My Family Faked Mom's Death to Stop My Wedding—My Adopted Sister Had My Fiancé's Baby novel · Chapter 9 of 24
Chapter 9: The Gala
The gala filled the Plaza's grand ballroom with four hundred people and a hundred chandeliers.
I walked in at ten past seven in a black gown, with a leather folder in my left hand.
Bruce walked beside me in a tuxedo, with his right hand resting at the small of my back.
It had been there since the car.
I had decided not to notice it, and I had noticed it every step.
"Last chance to leave," he said into my ear.
"Not a chance."
"Good."
Ethan stood on the stage at the far end of the room, in a new dinner jacket, beside the firm's managing partner.
Behind them a screen read, in gold: Welcome our newest partner.
Ethan saw me.
He lost his place in his own smile.
The managing partner reached the microphone and said, "Before we begin, a word about the man we're honoring. Ethan is one of the most trusted advisers I've ever had. Clients hand him their lives."
Applause.
I walked up the center aisle with Bruce a half step behind me.
"And I'm told his fiancée is here tonight," the managing partner added, looking at the room. "Where is she? There she is."
He pointed straight at me.
The room turned.
Four hundred people clapped for me, and none of them knew why yet.
I climbed the three steps to the stage.
Ethan took my arm, white at the mouth, and whispered, "Livia, please. Not here."
"Everyone keeps telling me where not to do this."
I put the leather folder in the managing partner's hands.
"I'm Livia Benedetti," I said, loud enough for the first six tables. "I was Ethan's fiancée until Sunday. Inside are sixty transfers from my grandmother's trust to a company called Prescott Advisory Partners. Over five years. Thirty-four million dollars."
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