Chapter 3 - The Kiss That Cost Six Billion Dollars
Vanessa Sinclair looked flawless beneath the ballroom chandelier.
Three hundred guests applauded as Adrien entered.
Lucas stood near the stage.
Smiling.
Maya remained near the service doors.
Rebecca disappeared among the lawyers and board members.
Vanessa approached Adrien.
“You disappeared.”
“Business.”
She kissed his cheek.
“Tonight is supposed to be about us.”
Adrien looked at her.
“Is it?”
Her smile tightened.
Then she lifted the microphone.
“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining our families tonight.”
Applause.
Adrien watched Lucas.
Lucas checked his phone.
Then glanced toward Maya.
Waiting.
For something.
A security supervisor approached Maya.
“Miss Coleman.”
Here it was.
“We need you to come with us.”
Guests turned.
Vanessa stopped speaking.
“What happened?”
The supervisor held up the financial portfolio.
“This was recovered from Ms. Coleman’s service cart.”
Gasps.
Perfect.
Vanessa looked horrified.
Too horrified.
“Maya?”
Maya said nothing.
Vanessa turned toward Adrien.
“She stole our confidential documents.”
Adrien remained still.
Lucas stepped forward.
“We should handle this privately.”
That almost made Adrien smile.
“No.”
Lucas frowned.
“No?”
“If Maya stole them, everyone should know.”
Vanessa visibly relaxed.
She thought he had chosen the script.
“Exactly.”
Adrien walked toward Maya.
The room watched.
Maya’s heart hammered.
He stopped inches away.
“Did you steal them?”
“No.”
“I believe you.”
Vanessa’s smile vanished.
“Adrien.”
He ignored her.
Then Maya whispered:
“Don’t.”
He looked at her.
She knew what was coming before he did it.
Maybe because she remembered the boy under the blanket.
Maybe because part of her had wanted this for twenty-two years.
Adrien touched her face.
And kissed her.
Less than three seconds.
But long enough.
The ballroom exploded.
Vanessa screamed.
“What the HELL are you doing?”
Phones rose.
Guests gasped.
Lucas stepped forward.
Maya shoved Adrien away.
“You idiot.”
“Yes.”
“Do you understand what you just did?”
“Yes.”
“No, you don’t!”
Adrien turned toward Vanessa.
Her shock had already changed into something else.
Opportunity.
She looked toward the board members.
“This is exactly what I warned you about!”
There.
Adrien smiled.
Vanessa stopped.
“What?”
He took the microphone.
“What exactly did you warn them about?”
Her face changed.
Lucas said:
“Adrien, don’t.”
Adrien looked toward the board.
“My fiancée apparently predicted I would become emotionally unstable and develop an inappropriate attachment to a household employee.”
Murmurs.
Vanessa went pale.
“How do you know that?”
Adrien smiled.
“Thank you.”
Too late.
She had just confirmed knowledge of confidential psychiatric drafts.
Rebecca appeared.
She handed copies to the independent directors.
Vanessa shouted:
“Those were contingency documents!”
“For what contingency?”
Adrien asked.
“Your instability!”
“When was I diagnosed?”
Silence.
“By whom?”
Silence.
“Before or after you calculated the value of my company after our breakup?”
Lucas moved toward the exit.
Two private investigators blocked him.
Not security under his control.
Rebecca’s people.
Adrien held up the hidden agreement.
“The Sinclair merger is suspended effective immediately.”
The ballroom erupted.
Vanessa’s father stood.
“You cannot do that!”
“I just did.”
“You’ll trigger debt covenants.”
“I know.”
“You could lose billions.”
“I know.”
Vanessa stared at Maya.
Then suddenly laughed.
“You think she loves you?”
Maya flinched.
Adrien remained still.
Vanessa continued.
“She works here because she needs money.”
“Stop.”
“No.”
She pointed at Maya.
“Her mother owes St. Catherine’s Hospital more than four hundred thousand dollars.”
Maya went white.
Adrien turned.
“How do you know that?”
Vanessa smiled.
Wrong move.
Because Maya had never told anyone at the estate the total.
Not even Elena.
Vanessa continued before realizing.
“Because we bought the debt.”
Silence.
Adrien’s expression changed completely.
“We?”
Lucas stopped moving.
Vanessa looked toward him.
That was the scream that exposed everything.
Not the kiss.
Not the affair accusation.
Her own anger had forced out the secret.
Sinclair-controlled investment funds had purchased Claire Coleman’s medical debt.
Why?
Rebecca already knew the answer.
Leverage.
Vanessa and Lucas planned to force Maya to testify that Adrien had pursued her sexually.
If she refused?
Her mother’s debt would be accelerated.
Treatment financing withdrawn.
Maya’s knees nearly failed.
“You were going to use my mother?”
Vanessa recovered.
“It was insurance.”
Maya stared.
“Against me?”
“Against him.”
Adrien walked toward Vanessa.
“You planted the documents in Maya’s cart.”
Vanessa said nothing.
“You planned to accuse her of theft.”
Silence.
“You prepared psychiatric records describing my attachment to her.”
Vanessa’s eyes hardened.
“You kissed her in front of everyone.”
“Yes.”
Adrien looked around the ballroom.
“And that was stupid.”
Maya whispered:
“Extremely.”
A few nervous laughs.
Adrien continued.
“But stupidity is not incapacity.”
Then he looked at Lucas.
“Fraud might be.”
Lucas ran.
Actually ran.
Across the ballroom.
Through the terrace doors.
Guests screamed.
Security chased him.
Vanessa stood frozen.
Her father shouted into his phone.
Rebecca calmly approached the microphone.
“Ladies and gentlemen, due to an active corporate investigation, tonight’s engagement announcement is cancelled.”
Adrien removed the ring Vanessa had given him.
Placed it on the stage.
Then turned toward Maya.
She looked furious.
“You kissed me.”
“Yes.”
“In front of three hundred people.”
“Yes.”
“While your engagement was being announced.”
“Yes.”
“Are billionaires naturally stupid, or is this specialized training?”
Adrien almost smiled.
“I panicked.”
Maya stared.
The room slowly emptied around them.
Then her phone rang.
Hospital.
Her face changed.
Adrien immediately knew.
“Maya?”
She answered.
Listened.
Her hand began shaking.
“What happened?”
She whispered:
“My mother.”
The doctor’s voice continued.
Maya sank into a chair.
Claire Coleman had suffered respiratory failure.
They were preparing emergency surgery.
But that was not the worst part.
The hospital administrator had just received instructions to suspend Claire’s private treatment funding.
The authorization had been sent twenty minutes earlier.
From a Sinclair investment company.
May you like
Vanessa had not merely threatened Maya’s mother.
She had already pulled the trigger.
