Guests huddled in confusion while Vivian shouted orders and William tried to calm an investor. Silence fell when they saw me enter on my father’s arm, composed and unbroken.
“What is the meaning of this,” Vivian shrieked. “You destroyed my property, I will call the police, and who is this man.”
My father let out a low laugh that carried across the room. “My name is Franklin Hayes, and I am the father of the woman you stripped and discarded like trash.”
William stepped back, pale and stunned. “Hayes,” he whispered. “The Hayes Agricultural Group.”
“The very same,” my father replied evenly.
Vivian tried to recover her arrogance. “I do not care who you are, your daughter is a thief.”
“Is this the necklace you are referring to,” one of my father’s men asked as he dragged Tiffany into the room holding the missing diamond necklace.
“We found it in her purse while she attempted to leave through the back entrance,” the guard announced.
Tiffany burst into tears. “Mom told me to hide it on Brooke so William would divorce her and marry the senator’s daughter.”
Gasps filled the ballroom as William stared at his mother in horror. “Mom, tell me this is not true.”