There was a pause.
Then Naomi asked, “Did anyone record it?”
“The dining room has internal security cameras. Ryan told me last month they record audio too. He was bragging about catching a contractor stealing wine.”
“Good. Do not contact him. Do not answer him. Come straight to my office.”
“I’m not going to your office first.”
“Emma.”
“I’m going to Harrington BioSystems.”
Naomi let out a slow breath. “Then I am meeting you there.”
Harrington BioSystems was the family’s crown jewel, a medical technology company with a shining public reputation and a decaying financial foundation. Six months before the wedding, I had uncovered that Ryan’s father had hidden failed trials, bribed procurement officials, and used charitable foundations to move dirty money through foreign accounts.
I had not set out to find any of it at first. I had only wanted to understand why Ryan was rushing marriage, why his mother wanted me to abandon my work, why his father asked too many questions about my “small consulting clients.”
The further I dug, the more obvious the truth became.
They had not wanted a daughter-in-law.
They had wanted access.
My late father had left me a minority share in a pharmaceutical logistics company he had quietly invested in years earlier. That company controlled distribution rights Harrington urgently needed for a federal contract worth hundreds of millions.
Ryan had pursued me as though it were love.
His family had targeted me like property.
At 9:02 a.m., I walked into Harrington BioSystems wearing the same cream dress from breakfast, the redness on my cheek faintly hidden beneath light makeup. People turned their heads in the lobby. The receptionist recognized me from the wedding photos that were already spreading online.
“Mrs. Harrington,” she said warmly.
