Chapter 7 - The Wedding Invoice.
The partnership draft did not prove Diane had agreed to anything.
It did prove Victor Lane had discussed Lakeside Pavilion with her in enough detail to prepare formal paperwork.
Diane read the first page and laughed once, too quickly.
“Anyone could have printed that.”
Grace replied through the speaker.
“That is true.”
Sophie appreciated Grace's restraint even when it was inconvenient.
Facts mattered more than satisfying conclusions.
Sophie handed the draft to Meline.
“Read the project description.”
Meline scanned the page.
Her brow tightened.
“It says Mom would oversee transition operations.”
Diane waved a dismissive hand.
“Victor talks about opportunities constantly.”
“Did you talk to him about Sophie's property?”
“I talked about many things.”
Meline looked up.
“Did you tell him you controlled it?”
Diane's silence lasted one second too long.
Ethan finally spoke from the corner.
“She told him she would control it after the renewal.”
Everyone turned toward him.
Meline's face changed more than Diane's.
“What?”
Ethan rubbed a hand across his jaw.
“I heard them talking at the rehearsal dinner.”
“And you said nothing?”
“I thought it was normal business.”
“You know Sophie owns the company.”
“I thought your mother was becoming a partner.”
“Because she told you that?”
Ethan looked down.
“Yes.”
Meline laughed softly, but there was no humor in it.
“Of course she did.”
Before Diane could answer, Meline's phone began vibrating with repeated messages.
The wedding coordinator was trying to reach her.
Meline opened the first text.
Her eyes widened.
“What is this?”
She turned the screen toward Sophie.
The coordinator had attached a final event invoice.
The total was far higher than the budget Meline had discussed with Sophie months earlier.
Private upgrades had been added in the final six weeks.
Premium floral installations.
A second dessert service.
Imported table linens.
Luxury transportation for out-of-town guests.
An additional live-music package.
And a four-night resort reservation listed under “executive hospitality.”
Meline scrolled slowly.
“I never approved half of this.”
Sophie looked at Diane.
“Who did?”
Diane's expression hardened.
“I wanted my daughter to have one perfect day.”
“With company funds?”
“I intended to reimburse some of it.”
“Some?” Meline repeated.
Diane looked at her daughter as though Meline were being ungrateful.
“You have no idea what weddings like this cost.”
“I did not ask for this.”
“I gave you what you deserved.”
Meline stared at the invoice again.
Then her expression changed.
At the bottom of the document was an approval line.
The initials beside it were S.H.
Meline looked at Sophie.
“Did you approve this?”
“No.”
Diane stepped closer.
“Sophie approved the overall event.”
Sophie shook her head.
“Not these charges.”
Meline zoomed in on the attached approval image.
It was Sophie's signature again.
The same copied signature.
And this time, Ethan quietly sat down.
Meline scrolled back through months of planning messages and began finding moments that suddenly looked different.
Whenever she questioned an expensive change, Diane had answered that Sophie wanted it to feel special.
Whenever Sophie questioned a cost, Diane told her Meline had personally requested it.
The two sisters had been kept apart by small, believable explanations.
Now they were comparing those explanations for the first time.
May you like
Sophie watched her sister absorb that pattern and knew the wedding invoice had become something larger.
It was proof of how easily trust could be divided when two people were never allowed to compare what they had been told.
