Chapter 2 - THE OTHER FAMILY
Brandon saw us almost immediately.
The smile disappeared from his face.
The microphone remained in his hand.
The ballroom held more than four hundred executives, investors, politicians, and reporters.
Brandon had spent months preparing this evening.
Now his wife and daughter stood twenty feet from the stage.
The blonde woman beside him looked confused.
“Brandon?”
He lowered the microphone.
I did not move.
Sophie did.
She pulled away from me and ran forward.
“Daddy!”
Every head turned.
Brandon froze.
Sophie stopped at the foot of the stage.
She lifted the necklace.
“I made this for you.”
I watched my husband look at our daughter.
Then at the cameras.
Then at the woman beside him.
He made his choice.
“Sophie.”
His voice was soft.
Too soft.
“What are you doing here?”
The paper necklace slowly lowered.
“I came to see you.”
The blonde woman looked at Brandon.
“Who is she?”
No one breathed.
Brandon stepped down from the stage.
His eyes found mine.
“Alyssa.”
“We need to talk privately.”
I laughed once.
“No.”
“Alyssa.”
“Who is she?”
The blonde woman stepped forward.
“I’m Claire Harrington.”
I recognized the name.
Her father, Victor Harrington, controlled Harrington Aerospace.
Brandon had been chasing a partnership with that family for nearly eighteen months.
Claire looked at me.
“And you are?”
I waited for Brandon.
He said nothing.
So I answered.
“I’m Alyssa Hale.”
Claire smiled politely.
“Yes, I know Brandon employs several—”
“I’m his wife.”
The room died.
Claire stared at me.
Then slowly turned toward Brandon.
“What?”
Sophie climbed onto the edge of the stage.
“I’m his daughter.”
Claire’s eight-year-old son looked confused.
“Mom?”
Brandon grabbed my elbow.
“We are not doing this here.”
I removed his hand.
“You already did.”
Claire stepped backward.
Her father stood near the front table.
His face had gone gray.
“Brandon.”
“What is this woman talking about?”
Brandon looked trapped.
“We separated.”
My anger sharpened.
“No, we didn’t.”
“We have lived apart.”
“No, we haven’t.”
“We had breakfast together yesterday.”
A ripple moved through the ballroom.
Claire looked sick.
“You told me she was your former girlfriend.”
Sophie stared at her father.
“Daddy?”
That one word broke whatever remained inside me.
I picked Sophie up.
Brandon lowered his voice.
“Take her home.”
“No.”
“Alyssa, please.”
“Tell Sophie who that boy is.”
Brandon looked toward Claire’s son.
He said nothing.
Claire did.
“Evan is Brandon’s son.”
I stared at him.
The boy looked about eight.
Older than Sophie.
My stomach turned.
If Claire was telling the truth, Brandon had fathered a child before we married.
Or during the years we were dating.
Tessa arrived behind us.
“What is happening?”
Claire looked at her.
“You knew?”
Tessa’s expression gave her away.
Claire slapped her.
The sound echoed across the ballroom.
Brandon shouted.
“Enough!”
Then every screen in the room went black.
The giant Hale Family graphic disappeared.
A new image appeared.
A corporate ownership chart.
At the top were three entities.
WHITMORE CAPITAL.
DOMINION CREST BANK.
HARRINGTON DYNAMICS HOLDINGS.
Then a man’s voice came through the ballroom speakers.
Dominic.
“Good evening, Brandon.”
Brandon stopped breathing.
I looked toward the control booth.
Dominic was not there.
May you like
He did not need to be.
“I believe it’s time the room learned who actually financed your future.”
