Chapter 4
Sophia was discharged after twenty-four hours.
The baby remained stable.
Her obstetrician ordered reduced activity and close monitoring for several days.
Raffaele moved Sophia and Emma to a quieter wing of the estate with no wedding guests, no family meetings, and no visitors they had not personally approved.
Sophia hated being managed.
“Dad, I’m pregnant, not fragile.”
“You were shoved into a wall.”
“And the doctor says I’m okay.”
“The doctor says rest.”
“The doctor also says stress is bad.”
Raffaele stopped.
Sophia smiled faintly.
“Got you.”
He almost smiled back.
Then Emma entered carrying the stuffed rabbit she slept with.
“Mommy?”
“Yes?”
“Do I still flower girl?”
Sophia’s face changed.
“No, sweetheart.”
“Because dress broke?”
“No.”
“Because Bianca mad?”
Sophia pulled her close.
“Because the wedding isn’t happening today.”
Emma considered that.
Then asked:
“Did I break wedding?”
“No.”
Sophia answered so quickly the word almost cracked.
Raffaele watched his daughter hold her daughter and realized how efficiently adults transferred shame downward.
The wedding planner’s financial records arrived that afternoon.
Claire and Sophia reviewed them together.
The pattern was not simple overspending.
Some invoices were normal.
Some were excessive.
Some had been approved, then replaced by higher versions.
The strangest part was who received the money.
Several expensive wedding vendors were connected to Hale Event Management, a company owned by Gregory’s older brother.
Not illegal.
Disclosed in some records.
Less clearly disclosed in others.
Sophia pointed to one line.
“This is the issue I kept asking about.”
A temporary pavilion supplier charged $220,000.
The pavilion had been removed from the final wedding design.
Yet the payment remained.
Another vendor charged for imported lighting equipment that the estate’s own production company ultimately supplied.
Payment remained.
A transportation vendor billed for twenty-two luxury vehicles.
Only nine arrived.
Payment remained.
Raffaele looked at Sophia.
“You saw these?”
“I saw discrepancies. Gregory always said final credits would come afterward.”
“Did they?”
“Not that I could find.”
Claire turned toward her.
“When did you start pushing harder?”
“Six weeks ago.”
“When did Bianca’s messages become hostile?”
Sophia checked.
Five weeks ago.
Claire said nothing.
She did not have to.
Then an email appeared from Gregory to Sophia.
You’re making this personal. Bianca knows you don’t approve of her. Stop using accounting to humiliate my future wife.
Sophia had answered:
Send corrected invoices and I’ll approve corrected invoices.
Gregory forwarded that exchange to Bianca.
But he removed Sophia’s second sentence.
Bianca received only:
You’re making this personal.
Displayed as though Sophia had written it.
Raffaele stared at the altered thread.
“That’s deliberate.”
Claire nodded.
“Yes.”
May you like
For the first time, they had proof Gregory was not merely passing messages badly.
He was changing them.
