Chapter 3
The ballroom erupted in chaos. Several guests shoved away from the table, chairs clattering to the floor.
Nathan didn’t flinch. He remained crouched beside Sophie, but his body shielded hers. He looked at the silver scissors pointed at his chest, then up at the woman he had almost married.
“Put them down, Delaney,” Nathan commanded.
Delaney’s hand trembled, the sharp tips of the shears catching the chandelier light. “Give me the box, Nathan. We can end this quietly. I will pack my bags and leave tonight. You’ll never see me again.”
“You think you get to walk away?” Nathan stood up slowly. “After forging my dead wife’s signature? After whatever you’ve done to her belongings?”
“I took care of her!” Delaney screamed, the sound raw and ugly. “You were at the office! I was the one changing her, feeding her, watching her fade! I earned this life, Nathan. I earned you.”
“You were a paid employee,” I said, unable to stay silent. “And you used a dying woman’s vulnerability to insert yourself into her husband’s bed.”
Delaney shot me a venomous look. “Shut up, Eleanor. You’re just a seamstress.”
“I’m the seamstress who made this dress,” I said, pointing to the ivory gown. “And I know Rebecca never kept jewelry in that wooden box.”
Nathan looked at me, confused. He gently took the mahogany box from Sophie’s hands.
“Eleanor is right,” Nathan said. “Rebecca kept her jewelry in the wall safe. This box was for her keepsakes. Ticket stubs. Photographs.”
He unlatched the brass hook and opened the lid.
The box was completely empty.
Except for a single, small manila envelope tucked into the bottom velvet lining.
Delaney lowered the scissors slightly, her face pale. “Nathan, please. Don’t.”
Nathan opened the envelope. He tipped it over his palm.
A heavy, gold pocket watch slid out.
I recognized it immediately. It was the Sterling family heirloom. Nathan’s grandfather’s watch.
“This was lost five years ago,” Nathan murmured, his thumb brushing the engraved gold casing. “I thought I left it at a hotel in New York.”
“Open the back,” Sophie said.
Nathan pressed the small release button on the side of the watch. The gold backing popped open.
Folded tightly into a tiny square, resting against the ticking gears, was a pawn shop receipt.
Nathan unfolded it.
His eyes scanned the faded ink.
“This is a pawn receipt for the watch,” Nathan said, his voice echoing in the silent room. “Dated five years ago. Pawned for two hundred thousand dollars.”
He looked up at Delaney.
“The signature on the pawn ticket is yours, Delaney.”
The guests gasped.
“You stole my grandfather’s watch before you even started working for us?” Nathan asked, piecing the timeline together. “Five years ago. You didn’t start as Rebecca’s therapist until three years ago.”
Delaney dropped the scissors. They clattered onto the hardwood floor.
“I didn’t steal it,” she whispered, backing away toward the doors. “She gave it to me.”
“Rebecca gave you my family heirloom?” Nathan asked, his voice dripping with dangerous disbelief.
“Yes!” Delaney cried, tears finally spilling over her mascara. “To pay off a debt. A debt her father owed my family.”
I stepped forward, my heart pounding.
“Rebecca’s father died when she was a teenager,” I said. “He was a schoolteacher. He didn’t owe anyone anything.”
Delaney laughed bitterly. She looked at me with pure hatred.
“You really don’t know, do you, Eleanor?” Delaney asked. “You sewed her wedding dress. You held her hand when she was a child. But you never knew who Rebecca really was.”
She pointed a shaking finger at me.
“Rebecca wasn’t an orphan, Eleanor. And the man who raised her wasn’t her real father.”
Delaney looked back at Nathan.
“Her real father is standing right outside this room. And if you don’t give me that watch right now, he is going to walk in here and take everything you own.”
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