Chapter 3
I stared at the photograph until the screen blurred.
The man sitting across from Vanessa wore a gray suit.
He was leaning forward, pointing at a document.
Vanessa was smiling.
Not the fake smile she had given me tonight.
A real one.
The kind people wear when they believe they've gotten exactly what they want.
"Nia?"
Isaiah gently touched my shoulder.
I looked up.
"Who is this man?"
I turned the phone toward him.
His forehead creased.
"I don't know."
"And why is your sister meeting him with paperwork about our wedding account?"
Isaiah took a closer look.
Then his expression changed.
"Where did you get this?"
"Someone just sent it."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
Evelyn stepped beside us.
"What's going on?"
I showed her the photograph.
She studied it quietly.
Then her face became serious.
"I've seen him before."
Isaiah looked at her.
"Where?"
"At Vanessa's house. About two weeks ago."
"Did she introduce him?"
"No. She said he was helping with a business project."
I felt sick.
"What business project?"
Evelyn looked directly at me.
"That's what we need to find out."
We entered a private lounge upstairs.
Someone had brought towels and a change of clothes.
My best friend, Jasmine, arrived a few minutes later with a simple blue dress from my overnight bag.
She took one look at me and started crying.
"Nia, honey..."
"Please don't."
I couldn't handle anyone else's tears.
She hugged me carefully.
"I'm sorry."
I changed in the attached bathroom.
When I removed the ruined gown, I finally broke down.
My mother had sewn a tiny blue ribbon into the lining.
Something old.
Something new.
Something borrowed.
Something blue.
She had done it as a surprise.
Now the ribbon was stained dark brown.
I held it between my fingers.
And I cried harder.
When I finally emerged, Isaiah was waiting beside the window.
He came toward me immediately.
"Are you okay?"
"No."
I could tell he wasn't prepared for that answer.
I looked straight into his eyes.
"Tell me something."
"Anything."
"How much money is in our wedding account?"
He frowned.
"A little over eighty thousand dollars."
The number made my stomach tighten.
We had saved for nearly two years.
My mother had contributed ten thousand dollars.
Evelyn had given us twenty-five thousand as an engagement gift.
The rest came from our own savings.
It wasn't just money.
It was our future.
"Who has access?"
Isaiah hesitated.
"Us. And Vanessa."
I stared at him.
"What?"
He looked uncomfortable.
"She was helping coordinate vendor payments."
"Your sister has access to our wedding savings?"
"Only through the planning account."
"Isaiah!"
He held up his hands.
"She doesn't have access to our personal savings. I added her to the vendor account because she was handling the contracts."
I stepped backward.
"You never told me that."
"I thought you knew."
"How would I know?"
He rubbed his forehead.
"Nia, please."
"No. Don't ask me to calm down."
I could hear how loudly I was speaking.
But I couldn't stop.
"Your sister spent months humiliating me. She just deliberately destroyed my engagement dress. And now somebody is telling me she's involved with our money?"
Isaiah looked shaken.
"I didn't know she was doing anything wrong."
"Then we need to check."
He pulled out his phone.
Our wedding expenses were managed through a separate account at a local bank.
He opened the banking application.
I stood beside him.
The screen loaded.
Then he stopped moving.
"Isaiah?"
He didn't answer.
I leaned closer.
The balance was wrong.
Terribly wrong.
Instead of more than eighty thousand dollars, the account showed less than nine thousand.
My mouth fell open.
"Where's the money?"
Isaiah stared at the screen.
"That can't be right."
He scrolled through the recent transactions.
Vendor payments.
Large ones.
A florist I'd never heard of.
A lighting company we hadn't hired.
A catering deposit that was almost twice the agreed amount.
My knees weakened.
"Those aren't our vendors."
Isaiah's face turned pale.
"I know."
He opened another transaction.
Twenty thousand dollars.
Paid to a company called Sterling Event Consulting.
I had never heard that name.
Neither had he.
Evelyn stepped into the room.
"What happened?"
I turned toward her.
"The money is gone."
For the first time all evening, her calm expression cracked.
"How much?"
"More than seventy thousand dollars."
Isaiah swallowed.
"Most of it was transferred through vendor payments."
Evelyn closed her eyes briefly.
Then she took a slow breath.
"Call the bank."
Isaiah nodded.
But his hands were shaking so badly that he nearly dropped the phone.
He dialed the number.
After several minutes, a representative answered.
Isaiah explained that we suspected fraudulent transactions.
The representative verified his identity.
Then she confirmed the worst.
Several payments had been authorized using Vanessa's credentials.
I gripped the back of a chair.
The woman explained that the bank could open a fraud investigation, but it couldn't immediately recover funds already transferred.
Isaiah requested that Vanessa's access be revoked.
The representative began the process and placed restrictions on further payments.
I stood there feeling helpless.
Our wedding money.
Our savings.
My mother's gift.
Almost gone.
Isaiah ended the call.
Then he looked at me.
"Nia, I'm going to fix this."
I wanted to believe him.
But I couldn't stop thinking about the photograph.
And the unknown person sending messages.
I typed a reply.
"Who are you?"
The response came almost immediately.
"Someone who knows Vanessa didn't act alone."
My breath caught.
I typed again.
"Who helped her?"
Three dots appeared.
Then disappeared.
Then appeared again.
Finally, another message arrived.
"Check the signature on the original vendor authorization."
I showed Isaiah.
He opened our shared email folder and searched for the original document.
It took several minutes.
Then he found it.
A scanned agreement allowing Vanessa to arrange payments.
His signature appeared at the bottom.
But beside it was another signature.
Mine.
I stared at the screen.
Because I had never signed that paper.
"That's not my signature," I whispered.
Isaiah looked at me.
"What?"
"I never signed that."
He zoomed in.
The handwriting looked almost identical to mine.
But the final letter curved in the wrong direction.
I knew my own signature.
Someone had copied it.
I slowly looked up.
"Isaiah..."
He seemed unable to breathe.
Then Evelyn spoke from behind us.
"I think it's time I tell you something about my daughter."
May you like
Her voice was shaking.
And somehow, that frightened me more than everything else.
