Chapter 4 - THE MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE IN HER CLUTCH.
Mr. Carter took the phone from Sophia and stared at the scanned document in silence.
The header was clear enough for everyone closest to see: Cook County Clerk. Marriage License. Ryan Bennett and Sophia Carter.
Madison’s veil trembled with every breath. “Tell me that’s fake.”
Ryan reached for the phone, but one of Mr. Carter’s security men blocked him with a single step.
“It’s out of context,” Ryan snapped. “It was a mistake. We were going to fix it.”
Sophia looked at him with something colder than grief.
“You said we had to keep it quiet until your family accepted me. Then you learned I was pregnant, and suddenly I became a mistake.”
Mr. Carter’s gaze shifted from the certificate to his daughter’s face, then to the faint pressure marks left where she had protected her belly.
“You touched her while carrying another woman to the altar?”
Madison ripped off one glove, exposing her shaking hand. “You told me your last relationship ended months before we met.”
Ryan turned toward her, desperate now. “Madison, listen to me. She’s twisting this. Her father is trying to destroy me.”
That was the wrong lie.
Mr. Carter took one slow step forward. “My daughter hid my name from you because she wanted to be loved without my money.”
Sophia’s eyes filled. “And the moment he thought I had no power, he decided I was disposable.”
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Then an older guest near the front whispered, “There’s more than a certificate.”
Because on Sophia’s screen, a second file had just appeared.
