220/🩵 The Torn Blue Dress That Stopped the Billionaire Groom at the Altar

Chapter 08 - The Other Daughter Clause

Lily was not hurt.

That was the first thing Adrian saw when he reached the west corridor. She stood barefoot on the carpet outside the blue nursery, Sophie behind her clutching the stuffed lamb from the suitcase, Nora Bell blocking the doorway with the ferocity of a much larger woman.

Silas Hawthorne stood opposite them with one hand raised, not touching anyone, but close enough to have frightened a child who already knew too much about raised hands and polite men.

Aunt Jo stood between them, cane lifted like a sword.

"Explain," Adrian said.

Silas turned.

He was seventy-one, thin, perfectly shaved, with silver hair and the sorrowful eyes of a funeral director. He had attended Adrian's father's burial. He had sent Lily birthday gifts. He had once told Adrian that old money's first duty was continuity.

Adrian was beginning to hate that word.

"I came to ensure the children were placed somewhere calm," Silas said. "This chaos is damaging."

Lily shouted, "He said Sophie doesn't count!"

Adrian looked at Silas.

The old lawyer sighed.

"A child's misunderstanding."

"Then explain it to the adult."

Silas glanced toward the guests still gathered below, toward Celeste descending the staircase with dangerous slowness, toward Beatrice speaking urgently into a phone until security relieved her of it.

"Your grandfather's trust contains residency requirements for dependent heirs," Silas said. "Children not residing in the primary household at the time of marriage may be subject to delayed recognition pending review."

Aunt Jo snapped, "Say it without embalming it."

Silas tightened his mouth.

"If Adrian married today while the girls were legally outside his household, Celeste would gain spousal voting rights before the children could challenge."

"And if the girls were sent abroad under false names?" Adrian asked.

Silas did not answer quickly enough.

Nora made a sound of disgust.

Adrian walked close enough that Silas had to tip his head back.

"You knew."

"I knew Miss Worthington had concerns regarding false claims."

"False claims?"

"We had reason to question Sophie's paternity."

The hallway changed.

Even Celeste, halfway up the stairs now, stopped.

Adrian's voice dropped.

"Who gave you that reason?"

Silas looked at Celeste.

She looked at him with pure warning.

Aunt Jo saw the exchange and smiled without warmth.

"Silas, before you decide which lie to die inside, remember that Beatrice Worthington will let you carry the coffin alone."

Silas swallowed.

"Celeste provided documents suggesting Mara Carter had been involved with another man during the period in question."

Adrian almost admired the restraint of language. In question. As if Sophie were a paragraph under review.

Lily stepped forward.

"Sophie has Daddy's eyebrow when she's mad."

Sophie, hearing her name, scowled from behind Nora's skirt.

Aunt Jo murmured, "Case closed."

Adrian kept his eyes on Silas.

"You accepted forged documents to strip two children of protection."

"I accepted materials presented by your fiancée and verified by Paul Renshaw."

"Paul works for Celeste."

Silas faltered.

"That was not disclosed."

"Because fraud rarely arrives with a name tag."

Celeste finally reached the corridor.

Her dress whispered across the carpet, absurdly beautiful against the ugly conversation.

"Adrian," she said, "you are embarrassing yourself. Demand a paternity test if you need certainty. But do not pretend sentiment replaces law."

Sophie stepped fully into view, cheeks flushed, stuffed lamb under her chin.

"I don't want a test," she said.

She did not know what it meant.

She only knew she was tired of adults discussing whether she belonged.

That broke something in Adrian he had not known was still intact.

He crouched in the hallway, tuxedo creasing again, and held out his hand.

Sophie looked at Lily first.

Lily nodded.

Then Sophie walked to him.

Adrian took her small hand, not to pull, but to anchor.

"No one is testing you to earn love," he said. "Do you understand me?"

Sophie did not, not completely.

But she nodded because his voice did not sound like anyone else's in the hall.

He looked at Silas.

"You are removed from every Cole trust, company, board, and property as of this minute. Maeve will send formal notice. Until police arrive, you will sit in the library and practice remembering details."

Silas went gray.

"You don't have authority without board--"

"I control the board. You forgot why Celeste needed me married before she moved the girls."

Aunt Jo's grin was brief and wicked.

Celeste tried one last card.

"And when the press hears you canceled a wedding because a dead woman's children wandered in with fairy tales?"

Adrian stood, Sophie at his side.

"They will hear it from me first."

The front doors opened below.

Police voices entered the mansion.

Then Maeve appeared at the end of the corridor holding Celeste's beaded purse between two gloved fingers.

"Sir," she said, "we found something inside the bride's clutch. It is addressed to Lily."