One of the boys squeezed her hand. He lifted his chin toward David.
“Mom, is that him?” the child asked. His voice was small, but in the terrified silence of the garden, it sounded like a shout.
Emily lowered her gaze to her son. She brushed a stray hair from his forehead. “Yes, sweetheart,” she whispered softly. “That is truly him.”
Chapter 4: The Unraveling
The crowd stiffened. People exchanged looks—the socialites, the business partners, the family friends. The illusion was breaking.
Olivia, standing a few feet away, felt the shift. Her perfectly painted smile faltered. She looked at the children, then back at David. The math was easy. The boys were five years old. David had been with her for four. The timeline was a jagged knife.
“David…” Olivia’s voice trembled. “What is this? Who are they?”
David tried to recover. He forced a laugh, but it sounded wet and desperate. “Emily… what is this? Some kind of show? Did you come here to blackmail me?”
He tried to pitch his voice to sound authoritative, the voice of the victim. “Security! Why is this woman here?”
But the security guards hesitated. They looked at the elegant woman and the three well-dressed children. They looked at the groom who was sweating profusely. They didn’t move.
Emily lifted her chin high. “No, David. This isn’t a show. And I don’t want your money.”
“Then why are you here?” he hissed, stepping down from the altar, trying to close the distance, trying to intimidate her with his height. “To ruin my day? To embarrass me?”
“I came because my sons asked to see their father,” she said, her voice calm and level. “Just once. Before they forget what you look like.”
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