Chapter 19 - The Audio File Recovered from the Wedding Suite
Before Daniel could reach for his coat, Emily’s phone buzzed violently on the coffee table.
The caller ID flashed a name that had vanished since the scandal broke: *Judith Campbell.*
Judith had been the high-society wedding guest whose phone camera had captured Vanessa slapping Emily and slipping the bracelet into Emily’s tote bag. That single video had broken the internet and shattered the Hale-Sterling alliance in under forty-eight hours.
Emily hit speakerphone. "Judith?"
"Emily, thank God you picked up," Judith’s voice crackled through the speaker, panicked and breathless. "I'm at the airport. I'm leaving for London, but you need to check your encrypted email right now."
Daniel leaned in. "Judith, this is Daniel. What happened?"
"Daniel, when I was recording Vanessa in the dressing room before the ceremony, my phone didn't just capture video through the crack in the door," Judith rushed out, the sound of terminal announcements echoing in her background. "My device was paired to the bridal suite’s Bluetooth audio monitor. The full uncompressed audio file uploaded to my private cloud yesterday during an automatic system restore."
"What's on it?" Daniel demanded.
"It wasn't Margaret giving Vanessa the commands," Judith said, her voice shaking. "Margaret was crying in the bathroom. There was a man in the room with Vanessa twenty minutes before she walked down the aisle. A man with a deep voice and an English accent."
Daniel’s blood turned to ice. Julian Vance had been educated in Oxford; his accent was famous throughout international banking circles.
"Play the file, Judith," Emily said softly.
A low hiss came through the line, followed by the crystal-clear audio of Vanessa’s bridal suite from that fateful afternoon:
*"You look exquisite, my dear niece,"* Julian Vance’s voice purred on the recording.
*"I can't do this, Julian,"* Vanessa’s voice answered, choked with panic. *"Daniel loves his sister. If he finds out Emily was hired as the lead florist, he’ll introduce her publicly tonight! He’ll announce her trust!"*
*"Then break her,"* Vance replied, cold and unyielding. *"Slap her across that pretty face. Call her a thief. Make sure the private security firm I hired cuffs her before the main course. If Emily spends the night in central booking, she cannot sign the transfer forms at midnight. And if you hesitate, Vanessa... I will show Daniel the photos of who really poisoned his father's morning coffee three years ago."*
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The line went silent. In the parlor, Margaret buried her face in her hands and let out a broken, agonizing wail.
***
