Chapter 16: The Signature She Could Not Force

Lydia placed the documents on the dining table.

The pages transferred my family's emergency rights in the Wilson company to her.

A pen rolled across the polished wood and stopped in front of me.

"Sign," she said.

Thayer remained between us.

"She will not."

Lydia aimed the gun at him.

"Then you die first."

"Thayer," I whispered.

He did not move.

Across the room, my father watched Lydia's hand.

Mrs. Wilson watched the remote.

Security waited for a clear line of fire.

No one had one.

"The explosives are a bluff," Julian said.

Lydia smiled.

She pressed one button.

A blast shook the far side of the estate.

Windows shattered.

Guests screamed.

Smoke rose beyond the garden doors.

"That was the empty guesthouse," she said. "The next charge is beneath this room."

The threat was real.

I stepped around Thayer.

He caught my arm.

"No."

"She wants my signature."

"She will kill us after she gets it."

"Not if I make her prove the transfer first."

His eyes searched mine.

We had promised to decide together.

There was no time for agreement.

Only trust.

"Let me go," I said.

Slowly, Thayer released my arm.

I walked to the table.

"These documents are useless without board verification," I said.

"Your signature activates the trust transfer."

"Only if witnessed by two independent directors."

Lydia's expression tightened.

She had not read the trust carefully enough.

"Mrs. Wilson and my father cannot serve," I continued. "They are interested parties."

"Then choose two others."

"Julian and Vivienne."

Thayer understood immediately.

Vivienne had legal training.

Julian knew Sinclair security procedures.

Bringing them closer created options.

"Come forward," Lydia ordered.

They approached the table.

Vivienne picked up the document.

"This clause requires notarization."

"Stop wasting time."

"Without it, the transfer fails."

Lydia's attention shifted to the page.

Julian moved.

He knocked the remote from her hand.

Thayer lunged for the gun.

The room exploded into motion.

A shot fired.

Mrs. Wilson screamed.

Security rushed forward.

I saw Thayer and Lydia struggle near the table.

Then the gun skidded across the floor.

My father kicked it away.

Lydia reached for the remote.

I got there first.

She struck me across the face.

I held on.

"You ruined everything!" she screamed.

"No," I said. "You did."

Security forced her to the ground.

The bomb squad entered minutes later.

They found two additional charges beneath the dining room.

Both were disarmed.

The bullet had grazed Thayer's shoulder.

He refused treatment until he saw me.

"Are you hurt?" he asked.

"You were shot, and you are asking me that?"

"It is a scratch."

"That is my line."

Relief made me laugh and cry at the same time.

He pulled me against him with his uninjured arm.

"You stepped away from me."

"You let me."

"Worst decision of my life."

"It worked."

"Still terrible."

Lydia was arrested before midnight.

Her records proved she had hired Elena, paid Derek, accessed Bastian's trust account, and orchestrated the threats.

She had also planned to blame the final attack on Bastian.

For once, he had not caused the disaster.

He had merely opened the door.

The rehearsal dinner never resumed.

No one cared.

We sat together in the damaged house while paramedics treated cuts and the police collected evidence.

Mrs. Wilson took my hand.

"Your family saved ours twice," she said.

"This was not about saving a company."

"I know."

Her eyes filled.

"It was about finally ending what greed did to all of us."

The wedding was scheduled for the next morning.

Every reasonable person suggested postponing it.

My mother suggested a month.

My father suggested until the investigation ended.

Julian suggested at least until Thayer could wear a jacket without bleeding through it.

Thayer looked at me.

"What do you want?"

The question mattered.

After threats, scandals, recordings, kidnappings, and a bomb beneath my parents' house, he still asked.

"I want to get married tomorrow," I said.

He smiled.

"So do I."

At dawn, we arrived at the church under heavy security.

The doors opened.

Flowers lined the aisle.

Our families stood waiting.

For one perfect moment, nothing moved except the morning light.

Then an officer approached Thayer and whispered in his ear.

His smile vanished.

"What happened?" I asked.

He looked toward the church entrance.

Bastian stood outside between two police officers.

"He says he has evidence Lydia was not working alone."