Evelyn’s voice on the phone was steady and professional. “Done, Ms. Parker. The card has been locked, and I’m suspending their key cards and suite access now. The security team is on alert. Is there anything else?”
“Yes, Evelyn,” I said, still staring at my family as their carefully constructed world crumbled around them. “Please have security escort the Parker family out of the Vesta Grand Hotel. Their stay is over, effective immediately. And let the legal department know I’ll be in touch about a full forensic audit of my father’s financial activities over the last decade. I believe there are some significant discrepancies that need to be addressed.”
I ended the call and slipped the phone back into my pocket. The string quartet had stopped playing mid-note. Julian’s parents, who had been sipping champagne and laughing politely moments ago, were now staring at my father with undisguised suspicion. His mother, a sharp-eyed woman with an icy demeanor, was already whispering something urgent into her husband’s ear. My own mother looked like a porcelain statue that had been smashed to pieces from the inside, her face a mixture of fury and abject humiliation.
“You—” my father sputtered, his hands trembling. “How dare you. I gave you a home. I gave you this family’s name. I built this company from nothing after your grandmother’s generation faded.”
“No, you didn’t, Dad,” I said quietly, and my voice was gentle, because deep down, a part of me still loved the man he had been before greed consumed him. “Grandma Eleanor built this company. She and Grandpa started Vesta Hospitality with one small motel in Tampa and grew it into an empire through decades of sacrifice. You just stole it while she was too sick to fight back. And now it’s coming back to the person she trusted to take care of it. She knew everything, Dad. The fake expense reports, the hidden offshore accounts, the gambling debts you’ve been hiding from Mom for years. She left me all the evidence.”
