Chapter 9
The forensic team recovered a deleted folder from Serena’s business laptop.
Its name was ordinary:
Exit Scenarios.
Inside were spreadsheets.
Relocation costs.
Civil attorney estimates.
The cohabitation payment.
Expected value of disputed wedding commissions.
Potential insurance recovery.
Nothing illegal about planning for a breakup.
Then came a document titled:
Bad Night.
Rebecca read it without Victor at first.
Then called him in.
The document was not a detailed plan to injure Lily.
It was a settlement framework.
Several sections had been drafted before the wedding.
If Victor becomes physically aggressive:
Preserve video.
Do not engage privately afterward.
Have counsel contact insurer.
Request immediate separation payment.
Demand no disparagement.
Require protection of Vale Image & Lifestyle from retaliatory cancellation pending accounting.
Victor stared at the last line.
“Pending accounting.”
Rebecca nodded.
Another section:
Leverage: Bellandi will prioritize privacy / reputation / family continuity over litigation.
Another:
Do not threaten police directly. Let counsel emphasize exposure risk.
Victor felt his stomach turn.
The document had been last edited two days before the wedding.
Still, it did not prove Serena knew exactly what would happen in the bridal suite.
Maybe she simply planned for the possibility that Victor’s temper became physical.
Then forensic accountants found a text conversation with Serena’s former business partner, Lauren Pierce.
Lauren:
You’re still going through with the wedding after the audit question?
Serena:
Nora is the problem. She found the real vendor slips.
Lauren:
Then postpone.
Serena:
If I postpone, Victor looks at everything before I have any leverage.
Lauren:
What leverage?
Serena did not answer for twelve minutes.
Then:
He has one weakness he cannot regulate when it’s right in front of him.
Lauren:
His daughter?
Serena:
Obviously.
Victor stopped reading.
Rebecca closed the file.
“We need the rest before concluding.”
They got it the next morning.
A recovered draft message Serena never sent:
If he puts hands on me with the suite camera running, he will pay to make all of this disappear.
All of this.
The wedding finances.
The audit.
The relationship.
The money.
May you like
The physical claim.
Everything had been moving toward the same ten-minute window.
