I looked down at the second sheet of paper my father had left for me. “This is not the way I wanted to say goodbye to him today, because he deserved a service filled with nothing but honor and peace.”
My throat tightened, and I had to pause to keep from breaking down in front of all these strangers. “But my father also believed that a secret is a poison that only grows in the dark, and he wanted his final will read in front of witnesses.”
Miles made a choked sound, a mix of a groan and a plea for me to stop before I destroyed his reputation entirely. I looked at him over the podium and felt a new sense of strength settle into my bones.
“Would you like to hear what he wrote, Miles?” I asked, my voice echoing through the vast space. His face was a ghostly shade of white as he realized he had lost control of the narrative entirely.
Mr. Sterling took a step into the aisle and nodded at me to continue. That was the moment Audrey finally let go of Miles’s arm, pulling away as if he were suddenly radioactive.