After Eight Years, She Left Me at the Altar for Her First Love novel · Chapter 44 of 48

Chapter 44: The Foundation Dinner

The ballroom of the downtown hotel was the one where Troy had once been left at an altar.

He walked into it on Saturday night in a rented tuxedo, with Molly on his arm.

Chandeliers hung over two hundred guests at round tables.

At the head table sat Mr. Wainright in his wheelchair, with a nurse behind him and a blanket over his knees.

Judith stood at the podium in black silk, greeting people one by one.

Celia came in behind them with Hazel on her hip.

The baby wore green velvet, and she had a dinner roll in each fist.

"You brought the child," Judith said as they passed her. "How kind."

"You asked," Celia said.

"I did."

Troy felt every muscle in his back go tight.

Molly's fingers pressed his wrist.

"Not yet," she murmured. "You promised."

At table nine, two men in dark suits ate their salad without looking up.

Celia had told him they were detectives from the district attorney, and that the DA wanted the fraud caught in the act.

Giselle sat at table twelve, in the corner, beside eleven white-haired strangers.

She caught Troy's eye and gave him the smallest nod.

The soup was cleared at half past eight.

Judith tapped the microphone, and the room settled.

"Friends of the Foundation," she said. "Before dessert, a formality. Under our bylaws, shareholders of record must vote on the company's board."

Her lawyer set a thick folder on the podium.

"I hold proxies for sixty-one percent of the voting shares," Judith said. "Forty of them are signed by family members who cannot be here tonight. I will ask the secretary to read the tally."

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