Chapter 2 - The Child Beneath the Balloons.
Every eye in the ballroom shifted from Daniel to Jennifer.
For one cruel second, relief softened her husband's face.
Detective Mara Sloan crossed the floor while one officer remained beside each exit.
The chandelier cast warm light over her badge and the sealed document in her hand.
"Your electronic authorization approved three transfers to Blue Finch Events."
Jennifer did not look away from Daniel.
"My authorization was forged."
"That is what we are here to determine."
Daniel found his voice again.
"Detective, my wife has been under terrible emotional strain."
His concern sounded practiced because it was.
For months, he had told friends that Jennifer forgot conversations, misplaced documents, and woke screaming after imaginary threats.
Jennifer had never understood why until that moment.
He had been building a witness list.
"Please don't do this in front of Olivia," Vanessa whispered.
Jennifer turned toward the child.
Olivia stood alone beside the cake, her lower lip trembling as adults whispered about her father.
Jennifer crossed to her and crouched carefully in the red dress.
"None of this is your fault."
"Is Mr. Daniel my dad?"
Vanessa rushed forward.
"Olivia, go with the nanny."
"You told me my dad was dead."
The question struck Vanessa harder than any accusation.
Daniel stared at the floor.
Jennifer took a pink napkin and gently wiped frosting from Olivia's hand.
"The adults have told lies, but you did nothing wrong."
Olivia allowed the nanny to lead her toward a side room.
Before disappearing, she looked back at Daniel.
He still did not meet her eyes.
Robert Hale stepped between his daughter and the detective.
"Jennifer controls Hale Holdings, but she does not process individual transfers."
"Someone used her biometric key," Sloan replied.
"The approval included her fingerprint and a live facial scan."
Daniel lifted both hands as if he hated what he had to say.
"She approved those payments in our home office."
"I begged her to wait until she was thinking clearly."
Jennifer almost admired the speed of his betrayal.
He had prepared not one lie, but an entire life in which she was the unstable villain.
Ellen stood, clutching her pearl necklace.
"My daughter does not give away four million dollars and forget it."
"Mrs. Hale, did Jennifer ever tell you that she was taking medication for anxiety?"
Ellen hesitated.
That hesitation was enough to feed every rumor in the room.
Daniel lowered his voice.
"I was trying to protect her privacy."
Jennifer opened the tan folder again and removed a pharmacy report.
"You refilled that medication six times after my doctor discontinued it."
Daniel's face tightened.
"You crushed those pills into my tea and told everyone I was losing my memory."
Vanessa whispered Daniel's name in disbelief.
He spun toward her.
"Don't start pretending you knew nothing."
The detective took the pharmacy report and compared it with the warrant.
Then a waiter approached Jennifer with a folded note.
"A man at the service entrance told me to give you this."
Jennifer unfolded the paper beneath the chandelier.
There were only nine words.
The folder is a decoy, and Daniel knows where the originals are.
Jennifer looked toward the side room where Olivia had gone.
May you like
The door was open.
The child and the nanny had disappeared.
