Chapter 6
Before She Arrived
The first headline went live at 8:03 p.m.
COMA HEIR WAKES TO SECRET BRIDE.
By 8:17, Elena's face was on every gossip account with a blue checkmark and a moral opinion. The photo was not cruel enough to be honest. She stood beside Adrian's chair in the chapel, one hand near his, eyes lowered, caught in a posture that could mean obedience if the viewer needed it to mean obedience.
Grant Marlowe arrived with flowers and a press strategy.
He was Adrian's cousin, acting COO, and handsome in the practiced way of men who benefit from being underestimated. He kissed Celeste's cheek, touched Elena's elbow as if they were already acquainted, and smiled as if all disasters were merely softer forms of networking.
"You look steadier than the articles suggest," he said.
Elena stepped out of his reach. "The articles don't know me."
"They will. That's the problem."
Adrian sat near the window in the study, blanket over his legs, laptop open, jaw hard. "What do you want, Grant?"
"Containment. We release a statement. Private ceremony, long engagement, medical privacy. Elena becomes devoted bride, not opportunist."
"No," Elena said.
Grant turned to her with polite patience, the kind that usually meant he had already counted the cost of the other person's refusal. "No?"
"I won't be used as a romantic explanation for a forged proxy."
Something moved behind his eyes. Not surprise.
Recognition.
Adrian saw it too.
"You knew about the proxy," Adrian said.
"I knew there were documents," Grant replied. "I didn't know which ones mattered."
Mara entered without knocking and put a tablet on the desk. "We have a second problem."
The screen showed the wedding photo from the article, but the metadata panel beside it showed a timestamp.
6:12 p.m.
Elena stared. "The ceremony started at seven."
"This was taken before you arrived," Mara said.
The image looked wrong in a way Elena could feel before she could explain it. Same dress. Same angle. Same lowered head.
Only Elena had still been in the car at 6:12.
Grant said nothing.
Adrian looked at him once, and the room changed shape around the look.
"Who took the photo?" Elena asked.
Mara enlarged the file and turned the tablet so they could see the lower metadata line.
The source field was blank.
The backup address was not.
ELENA VALE - TEMP ENTRY.
Her stomach dropped so fast she had to put a hand on the desk.
"That's my name," she said.
"Yes," Adrian said very quietly. "That's the problem."