Chapter 5 - The Gala
By Saturday night I'd almost talked myself into believing this was what Nora would have wanted.
Then we walked into the ballroom.
Preston worked the room like he'd been born in it. He steered the girls from group to group, bragging about Claire's college plans, telling her twice within an hour that her tuition was already handled if she wanted it. He was warm. He was generous. He was convincing.
But something was off.
Nobody in that room seemed the least bit surprised that Preston suddenly had four grown daughters.
"And these," he announced to a circle of men in gray suits, "are my girls. My greatest treasures."
The men nodded along like they'd heard it before. One raised his glass.
"A family man at the helm. Exactly what this company needed."
The invitation was starting to feel less like a first introduction and more like the next chapter of a story somebody had started telling without us.
Then a woman with silver hair drifted over to Claire, wearing a soft, pitying smile.
"You poor things," she said. "All those years, kept away from your own father. Your mother must have been a very bitter woman, to do a thing like that."
Claire's polite smile went stiff.
"I'm sorry," she said carefully. "What exactly did my father tell you?"
"Oh, honey, everyone knows the story. How Preston spent years searching after your mother took you and disappeared. Terrible business. He's been so brave about the whole thing."
Claire went completely still.
"Everyone knows?"
"Of course, dear. He told all of us when he took over the company."
The woman floated off toward the champagne table.
Claire turned to me, her face pale under the chandeliers.
"He's telling them Mom stole us from him," she whispered. "He's blaming her. And she's not even here to say a word back."
Across the room, Preston smiled for a photographer with an arm around two of the younger girls.
"He lied to every single person in this room," Claire said. "Why would he do that?"
"I don't know, sweetheart. Let's just go home—"
May you like
"No." Her jaw set. "Not until I hear the real reason he wanted us here."
She started across the ballroom, and I hurried after her.
