Chapter 5 - The Senator’s Ultimatum
The temperature in the fitting room plummeted instantly.
Senator Thomas Sterling walked in with the uninvited swagger of a man who believed he owned every square inch of Westchester County. His silver hair was combed to perfection, but his eyes were like chips of blue ice as they swept over Betty, Maria, and me before landing squarely on Daniel.
“Senator,” Daniel said smoothly, stepping in front of the girls with a protective instinct so fierce it nearly rattled the glass panes. “Keep your voice down. We have children present.”
“Children who shouldn't even be in this building,” Senator Sterling snapped, his smile vanishing as he motioned to the detective beside him. “Detective Vance here was reviewing the guest clearance logs requested by my daughter’s security detail. It turns out Miss Chen here didn't just wander in off the street. She’s currently under federal preliminary investigation for wire fraud and asset concealment.”
My heart stopped.
I stumbled backward, colliding gently against the velvet pedestal. “What? That’s insane! I’ve never committed a crime in my life!”
“Liar,” Sterling barked, pointing a thick finger at me. “Three weeks ago, an anonymous tip routed through a shell corporation in the Cayman Islands deposited four hundred thousand dollars into a Queens bank account bearing your exact name and social security number. Coincidentally, right around the time you suddenly resurfaced in Daniel’s life.”
“I don't have four hundred dollars in savings, let alone four hundred thousand!” I stammered, my voice shaking with raw panic. I looked desperately at Daniel. “You know me. You know I worked two jobs at a bookstore after leaving your company just to pay rent!”
Daniel didn't flinch, but his eyes narrowed into razor slits as he looked at the detective. “Detective Vance, who authorized this investigation?”
The detective nervously adjusted his tie. “An emergency warrant was issued this morning by Judge Harrison, sir. At the request of a private financial compliance firm representing... well, representing an interested party.”
“Amanda,” Daniel whispered, the name dropping from his lips like a curse.
“My daughter is protecting her future husband from gold-digging opportunists,” Senator Sterling interrupted, stepping closer with a predatory grin. “Think about optics, Daniel. The ink on the infrastructure bill hasn't even dried. If the media catches wind that your former mistress—with whom you secretly fathered illegitimate children—is under federal investigation for financial crimes right before your society wedding, the stock prices of Harden Tech will crater by sunset.”
Sterling leaned in close, lowering his voice into a venomous hiss.
“Here is how this plays out,” the Senator continued. “The detective escorts Miss Chen and her brats off the property immediately under police supervision. The media is told they were unauthorized trespassers. You marry my daughter on Saturday without a hitch. And if Miss Chen wants to clear her name of federal fraud, she can do it quietly from a holding cell in White Plains.”
The silence in the room was absolute.
Betty and Maria, picking up on the rising hostility and shouting, suddenly started crying, running over to wrap their small arms around my legs.
“Mommy, I want to go home,” Maria sobbed into my wool coat. “The bad men are yelling.”
I knelt down, pulling my daughters against my chest, my own tears spilling over my cheeks. I had walked into a trap. Amanda and her father hadn't just invited us here for a fitting; they had lured us into a gilded cage so they could publicly humiliate us, frame me for a crime I didn't commit, and erase my daughters from Daniel’s life forever.
“You’re monsters,” I whispered, looking up at the Senator through my tears.
May you like
Daniel stood motionless. For three seconds, his face was a mask of cold, unreadable marble.
Then, he moved.
