Chapter 5: The Secret Beneath the Silk
Across the back of the inner dress was an intricate embroidered design.
Two silver roses surrounded a golden key.
Beneath them were the words:
THE TRUTH BELONGS TO THE DAUGHTER.
The ballroom fell silent.
Adrian stared at the embroidery.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know,” I whispered.
But someone else did.
Victoria looked as though she’d seen a ghost.
Then an elderly gentleman rose from the second row.
Daniel Mercer.
The Harrington family’s longtime attorney.
He approached the altar slowly.
“Where did you get that gown?”
“From the Laurent Atelier.”
His face changed.
“Who gave them permission to release it?”
“I don’t know.”
Mercer looked toward Victoria.
“My God.”
She shook her head.
“Daniel, don’t.”
He ignored her.
“Twenty-four years ago, Isabelle Laurent created a gown almost identical to this one.”
I stared at him.
“For whom?”
Mercer hesitated.
Then answered.
“For the woman who was supposed to become Adrian’s father’s business partner.”
Victoria gripped her chair.
“That’s enough!”
Mercer looked at me.
“Her name was Eleanor Vale.”
The name meant nothing to me.
Until he continued.
“She was the original financial architect behind Harrington Holdings.”
Adrian frowned.
“My father founded Harrington Holdings.”
Mercer closed his eyes.
“No, Adrian.”
He drew a trembling breath.
“Your father was its public chairman.”
Then he turned toward Victoria.
“Eleanor Vale was the woman who actually financed its creation.”
