Chapter 7 - AMANDA’S PRICE
Amanda asked to see me alone.
I refused.
Not because I hated her.
Because I had finally learned the cost of private conversations without witnesses.
She came to the Grand Aurelia with an attorney.
Serena sat beside me.
Malcolm remained near the door.
Amanda looked twenty years older than she had at the wedding.
No makeup.
Hair tied back.
Eyes swollen.
She placed the silver purse on the table.
“I never want to see this again.”
Inside was the ring.
Still sealed in the evidence envelope Malcolm had provided.
“Why did you agree?” I asked.
Amanda stared at her hands.
“My mother.”
Chloe had always called Amanda the family charity case.
I remembered jokes about it.
Amanda’s mother, Lorraine, had developed a gambling problem after her husband died.
Debts accumulated.
Richard Rourke quietly paid them.
I had believed it was generosity.
Apparently, generosity came with invoices.
“Uncle Richard paid almost three hundred thousand dollars,” Amanda said. “Treatment, mortgage, debts.”
“And then?”
“Chloe reminded me.”
“Asked you to repay them?”
“She said if I didn’t help, Richard would stop paying for my mother’s assisted living.”
I felt no sympathy for Chloe.
But I felt it for Amanda.
Not enough to excuse what she did.
Enough to understand.
“What exactly did Chloe tell you?”
Amanda swallowed.
“That you were being difficult about paperwork Dominic needed.”
“What paperwork?”
“She didn’t say.”
“Did she mention the loan?”
“No.”
“The trust?”
“No.”
Amanda shook her head.
“She said you were selfish. That Dominic had supported you for years and you wouldn’t do one thing to help his family.”
I almost laughed.
Supported me.
I had paid half our mortgage.
I had funded the nursery.
I had covered Dominic’s expenses during a six-month period when his company stopped issuing executive distributions.
But facts had never mattered inside the Rourke house.
Amanda continued.
“Chloe wanted me to put the ring in your purse. Then she planned to take you upstairs with Eleanor and Dominic.”
“To make me sign.”
“Yes.”
“And afterward?”
“She would say she had been mistaken and found the ring.”
Perfect.
No police.
No public scandal.
Just terror.
Private leverage.
A pregnant woman cornered by three family members and threatened with arrest.
“Why didn’t you plant it?”
Amanda looked at me.
“Because you were talking about the baby.”
I blinked.
“What?”
“You were talking to Mrs. Calloway.”
Ethan’s grandmother.
I remembered.
She asked when I was due.
I showed her the tiny ultrasound photo inside my wallet.
Amanda’s eyes filled.
“You looked happy.”
She wiped her face.
“And I thought about what would happen if the police actually came.”
“But Chloe accused me anyway.”
“She panicked.”
“Why?”
“Because Dominic told her the papers had to be signed that night.”
My body went still.
“Dominic said that?”
Amanda nodded.
“When?”
“Before the reception.”
“Where?”
“In the bridal suite.”
Serena immediately asked:
“Who was present?”
“Me. Chloe. Eleanor. Dominic.”
My heartbeat accelerated.
Four people.
One plan.
“Was Richard there?”
“No.”
“Did Dominic say why it had to happen that night?”
Amanda nodded slowly.
“He said the bank review started Monday.”
Serena wrote something.
“Anything else?”
Amanda hesitated.
“Yes.”
“What?”
“He said if you saw the agreement calmly, you’d never sign.”
I looked down.
There are sentences that end relationships.
Not because they are loud.
Because they prove the other person understood you perfectly…
and chose to exploit that knowledge.
Dominic knew I would refuse.
So he helped create a situation where refusal would feel dangerous.
Amanda continued.
“Eleanor said something I didn’t understand.”
“What?”
“She said once the baby came, everything would become harder.”
Serena’s pen stopped.
“Exact words?”
Amanda closed her eyes.
“Something like, ‘We have four weeks. Once the child exists separately, trustees get involved.’”
The room chilled.
I looked at Serena.
“What does that mean?”
She remained careful.
“It may refer to trust administration.”
“My daughter’s trust.”
“Possibly.”
Amanda shook her head.
“I swear nobody talked about hurting you.”
I believed her.
This was not a murder plot.
It was greed.
Legal maneuvering.
Control.
People trying to position themselves around an unborn child’s money before she had taken her first breath.
Somehow, that felt almost as disgusting.
Amanda’s attorney cleared his throat.
“My client is prepared to cooperate fully with any investigation.”
I looked at Amanda.
“Why now?”
She met my eyes.
“Because Chloe called me this morning.”
“What did she say?”
Amanda’s hands tightened.
“She told me to say the ring prank was my idea.”
“Of course.”
“She offered me fifty thousand dollars.”
Serena’s eyebrows rose.
“Did you record the call?”
Amanda looked at her attorney.
Then reached into her bag.
“I recorded the second one.”
She placed her phone on the table.
We listened.
Chloe’s voice filled the room.
Cold.
No tears.
No panic.
“Amanda, you already look guilty.”
A pause.
“Take the blame and this disappears.”
Amanda’s recorded voice:
“What about Vivienne?”
Chloe laughed.
“Vivienne is finished anyway.”
My stomach tightened.
Then:
“Dominic will handle her.”
The recording continued.
Amanda asked:
“And the papers?”
Chloe’s reply:
“Mom says Dad has another way now.”
Serena stopped the audio.
“Another way?”
Amanda looked terrified.
“I don’t know.”
My father entered before we could continue.
Malcolm whispered something to him.
His expression darkened.
“What happened?” I asked.
He looked directly at me.
“Richard filed suit.”
“For what?”
“He claims Arden Hospitality sabotaged Bellweather eight years ago and caused losses now exceeding two hundred million dollars.”
I stared.
“That’s insane.”
My father nodded.
“It is also public.”
Serena’s phone began buzzing.
Then mine.
Then Malcolm’s.
News alerts appeared almost simultaneously.
ROURKE FAMILY SUES ARDEN HOSPITALITY IN $200 MILLION FRAUD CLAIM.
Richard had found his other way.
May you like
If he could not control me privately…
He would go to war with my father publicly.
