Chapter 9 - The Bride Leaves the Table.
.Claire’s question changed the center of the confrontation.
Until that moment, Thomas had treated Maya as the only person he needed to control.
Now the bride herself was waiting for an answer.
Thomas lowered his voice.
“Claire, sit down.”
“No.”
The word surprised everyone, including Claire.
She stepped away from the bridal table.
Her white lace gown brushed the edge of the stage.
“Answer me.”
Thomas looked at Daniel.
“Take your wife back to her seat.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“She is not furniture.”
Thomas ignored him.
“Maya has spent years resenting your sister.”
Maya felt heat rise in her face.
Claire looked at her.
“Is that true?”
Maya answered carefully.
“I resented how differently we were treated.”
Thomas seized the sentence.
“There.”
He pointed toward Maya.
“She admits it.”
Claire shook her head.
“That is not the same thing.”
Thomas’s eyes narrowed.
Claire continued.
“I asked whether you used her trust.”
A waiter quietly stepped away from the nearest table.
The ballroom had become so silent that the movement of silverware sounded loud.
Thomas exhaled.
“The trust allowed expenses that benefited the family.”
Maya’s stomach turned.
Samuel had shown her the wording.
It said education, housing, academic materials, and health-related needs for Maya.
Nothing about family events.
“That is false,” Maya said.
Thomas looked at her with open anger now.
“You are twenty-two years old.”
“You do not understand estate planning.”
“Then Samuel Reed does.”
Thomas froze.
The name hit harder than Maya expected.
Claire noticed.
“Who is Samuel Reed?”
“The attorney Grandma used when she created the trust.”
Thomas stepped down from the stage.
“This conversation is over.”
Maya followed him with her eyes.
“No.”
He turned.
“You wanted this public when you walked onto the stage.”
“I wanted you to stop humiliating me.”
“You humiliated yourself.”
Claire suddenly laughed.
It was not a happy sound.
“I spent a year thanking you for this wedding.”
Thomas looked at her.
“You should.”
Claire blinked.
Maya saw something break behind her sister’s expression.
“You told me you postponed renovating the lake house because you wanted me to have everything I dreamed of.”
“I made sacrifices.”
“With Maya’s money?”
Thomas’s silence answered too much.
Claire looked down at her wedding dress.
“I didn’t ask for this ballroom.”
“That is irrelevant.”
“I asked for the lake.”
“I gave you better.”
“No.”
Claire’s voice shook.
“You gave yourself bigger.”
Daniel reached for her hand.
This time, Claire took it.
Thomas looked around as if searching for an ally.
His brother Robert stared at the table.
His sister Margaret looked furious.
Even the family friends who had praised him all evening avoided his gaze.
Then Thomas’s phone vibrated.
He glanced at the screen.
Maya watched the blood drain from his face.
“What is it?” Claire asked.
Thomas locked the phone.
“Nothing.”
Maya’s own phone buzzed one second later.
A message from Samuel Reed appeared.
Emergency order granted.
Trust assets frozen pending investigation.
Maya looked up.
May you like
Thomas already knew.
And judging by his expression, the frozen trust was not the only thing he was afraid investigators would find.
