Chapter 5 - Elaine Makes a Mistake
Elaine Mercer visited Isabelle’s office the next afternoon wearing black sunglasses indoors.
That alone told Isabelle she was nervous.
Elaine removed them slowly, as if every movement had been practiced in front of a mirror. She smiled and shut the door behind her.
“I thought we should talk privately.”
Isabelle didn’t look up from her laptop. “People keep saying that before threatening me.”
Elaine’s smile tightened. “No one is threatening you.”
“Margaret offered me money to disappear.”
“That sounds generous.”
“That sounds criminal.”
Elaine crossed the office and sat without being invited.
For years, Elaine had moved through wealthy rooms as if furniture rearranged itself for her comfort. Isabelle wondered if anyone had ever told her no before.
“You don’t understand this family,” Elaine said.
“I understand the invoices.”
Elaine’s face flickered.
Only slightly.
But Isabelle caught it.
“You don’t have the stomach for what happens next,” Elaine said.
“What happens next?”
Elaine leaned in.
“Tomorrow night, Margaret is going to give Alexander one last chance to choose correctly. And when he does, you’ll be standing in front of everyone with nothing but accusations and a borrowed dress.”
Isabelle finally looked at her.
“You’re enjoying this.”
Elaine smiled. “A little.”
“Because you think he’ll choose you?”
“Because I know he will eventually.”
The sadness of it almost surprised Isabelle.
Elaine wasn’t just greedy.
She was desperate.
Not for Alexander, maybe. Not really.
For the life he represented.
The doors. The ring. The name. The family portrait where she had been standing in the background since childhood, waiting for someone to move Isabelle out of the frame.
Isabelle closed her laptop.
“Did Margaret tell you about the recording?”
Elaine froze.
It was less than a second.
But it was enough.
“What recording?” Elaine asked.
Isabelle smiled faintly.
Elaine stood too quickly. “You’re bluffing.”
“Then enjoy tomorrow night.”
After Elaine left, Isabelle called Nora Bell, her attorney and oldest friend.
“She confirmed they’re staging it tomorrow,” Isabelle said.
Nora exhaled. “Then we do this clean.”
“I don’t want a scandal.”
“Then you shouldn’t have fallen in love with people who use scandal as a weapon.”
Isabelle closed her eyes.
Nora softened. “Are you sure you can walk into that room?”
“No.”
“Good. That means you’re human.”
Isabelle opened the folder on her desk: financial report, recorded study conversation, Elaine’s accidental confirmation, board contact list.
Nora continued, “You don’t send it before. You send it after they reveal who they are.”
“That feels cruel.”
“No,” Nora said. “It feels documented.”
That night Isabelle hung her white satin dress on the closet door.
She stared at it for a long time.
May you like
It looked like a wedding dress from a distance.
By morning, it felt more like armor.
