Chapter 6 - The Sister's ReckoningChloe Collins stood near the ruined altar, her white silk wedding dress stained with dust, her manicured hands trembling violently as she looked around at the three hundred guests who were staring at her in total disgust and horror.
She looked at Mave—at her emerald-green silk dress, her royal posture, and the unshakeable wall of iron standing beside her in the form of Declan Hayes.
Chloe dropped flat onto her knees right on the carpeted steps, letting out a frantic, groveling sob.
"Mave... please!" Chloe wept, reaching her trembling hands toward her sister. "We're sisters! I didn't know Dad was forging those papers! I was just doing what he told me! Don't let them take everything! Please... talk to Declan!"
Mave stepped forward slowly, stopping three feet from where her sister knelt in the dirt.
She looked down at Chloe—remembering the years of being forced to fix her dresses, the endless insults, the white BRIDE SQUAD robe thrown at her face, and the cold indifference Chloe had shown when the hitmen dragged her away five hours ago.
"You knew, Chloe," Mave said softly, every word carrying a final, unbroken truth. "You knew I was hurt. You knew Dad was stealing my life. And you let me rot in the back room because you thought you were better than me."
Mave reached into her handbag, pulling out the crumpled white BRIDE SQUAD robe, laying it flat onto the carpeted step right beside Chloe's knees.
"Keep the robe, Chloe," Mave whispered cleanly. "Because you're going to need something warm where you're going."
Special Agent Miller from the FBI stepped forward, placing his hand on Chloe's shoulder. "Chloe Collins, you are under arrest as an accessory to corporate forgery and financial fraud."
Chloe shrieked in pathetic, hysterical terror as female marshals locked steel cuffs around her wrists, dragging her out through the brass doors in total, public disgrace.
Declan stepped up behind Mave, wrapping his broad, warm arm around her waist, pulling her back flush against his solid chest.
He pressed a sweet, lingering kiss against her temple, his storm-gray eyes shining with an absolute, unshakeable devotion.
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"You did brilliantly, my queen," Declan whispered softly into her ear.
Mave looked at the open doors of the ballroom, breathing in the cold, crisp rain air, feeling the suffocating weight that had rested on her chest for fifteen years completely, beautifully vanish into the wind.
