The private dining room at the Grandview Country Club was dead silent except for the heavy clinking of silver cutlery against bone china.
Elena stood frozen at the entrance of the reserved terrace, her fingers clutching the strap of her ivory purse as she stared at the empty banquet tables.
Elena: Julian, where is everyone? Where are my parents?
Julian: I told your folks to head back to the hotel for an hour, Elena. Mother wanted us to handle one tiny legal matter first.
Elena: A legal matter? The wedding is at ten o'clock tomorrow morning.
Victoria Sterling set down her champagne flute with a sharp, hollow click and adjusted her diamond brooch.
Victoria: Do not use that dramatic tone in my club, young lady. Sit down.
Elena: I already signed the standard prenuptial agreement two months ago at your family lawyer's office.
Victoria: That was before certain private lab results crossed my desk yesterday afternoon.
Victoria slid a thick, blue-bound folder across the table, stopping it inches away from Elena's plate.
Elena: You had someone spy on my personal doctor appointments?
Julian: Nobody spied on you, honey. The Sterling family doctor merely verified the bloodwork from your private clinic visit.
Elena: You went behind my back to dig through my medical charts?
Julian: We are having a baby, Elena! That changes everything about our financial future!
Elena: It’s our baby, Julian. Not a corporate merger.
Victoria: In this family, an heir is an asset of the primary trust fund. Turn to page fourteen.
Elena opened the binder with trembling hands, scanning the crisp black legal text until her vision blurred.
Elena: Section nine... full parental waiver and sole legal custody assigned to the Sterling Estate?
Victoria: If you ever seek a divorce, you receive a five-million-dollar cash settlement, but you surrender every parental right immediately.
Elena: You want me to sell my child before it's even born?
Victoria: Sign the amendment right now, or tomorrow's wedding is canceled.
Elena looked directly at the man she had loved for three years, waiting for him to defend her, but his eyes stayed glued to the floor.
The silence stretched across the mahogany table until Elena let out a quiet breath, her fingers slipping into her purse.