Chapter 2 - The Name on the Transfer.
The screenshot landed beside the bank statement with a soft slap that seemed louder than the chandelier music had been.
Daniel stared at it for half a second before anger returned to his face.
"You went through my private messages?"
Patricia covered her mouth.
Jennifer did not answer immediately.
She let the question hang in the ballroom long enough for everyone to hear what Daniel had chosen to defend.
Not the transfers.
Not the missing money.
Not Chloe Hart.
His privacy.
"The screenshot was sent to me," Jennifer said.
Daniel blinked.
That was not the answer he expected.
"By who?"
Jennifer slid another page from the folder.
"We'll get there."
The first printed conversation showed Daniel asking Chloe whether the hotel had confirmed the private dining room.
The next message asked whether Noah's cake had been ordered.
The final line read, "Use the same card if they ask for a deposit."
Daniel's sister, Melissa, whispered something under her breath.
Patricia looked at her son.
"Who is Noah?"
Daniel exhaled sharply.
"This is being taken completely out of context."
Jennifer looked at Patricia.
"That's what I thought at first."
She remembered the Tuesday night she had sat alone at the kitchen island with Lily's unpaid florist bill in one hand and a bank alert in the other.
Daniel had been upstairs packing for what he called a two-day client conference.
He had kissed Jennifer on the forehead before leaving.
He had told her not to worry about the baptism expenses.
"I handled everything," he had said.
By Wednesday morning, Jennifer had learned that nothing had been handled.
The florist had not been paid.
The caterer had not been paid.
The photographer had received only a small deposit.
Yet more than twenty thousand dollars had left the account.
Every suspicious payment connected back to Chloe Hart.
Jennifer had spent two days saying nothing.
She checked dates.
She checked invoice numbers.
She checked the business card Daniel claimed to use for client entertainment.
Then, on Friday afternoon, an unknown number sent her a single message.
"If you're Jennifer, I think we need to talk."
Daniel's father stepped toward the glass table.
"Who sent you those screenshots?"
Jennifer's eyes remained on Daniel.
"Chloe did."
Patricia made a small sound of disbelief.
Daniel's face went still.
The room seemed to contract around him.
"She's lying," he said.
Jennifer reached into the folder again.
"About which part?"
Daniel said nothing.
Jennifer placed a printed photograph on the glass.
It showed the entrance of a downtown hotel decorated with white ribbons and pale blue flowers.
A welcome sign stood near the door.
Most of the words were too small to read from across the table.
One line was not.
"Celebrating Baby Noah."
Patricia gripped the back of a chair.
Daniel moved forward.
"Give me that."
Jennifer pulled the folder closer to her body.
"No."
His father stepped between them without raising his voice.
"She said no."
Daniel stopped.
For the first time that evening, he seemed unsure which person in the room still belonged to his side.
Jennifer lifted one final photograph from the stack.
This one showed Daniel walking through the hotel's side entrance.
May you like
The timestamp was from the morning after Lily's baptism rehearsal.
And he was carrying a box with the same bakery logo that appeared on Noah's invoice.
