CHAPTER 13: The Bride Leaves Without Music

No orchestra played when Vivienne crossed the foyer.
No one reached for her hand. No friend stepped forward to defend the misunderstanding. The diamonds at her throat still blazed, but the room had stopped believing they meant anything.
At the front doors, she turned once toward Sebastian.
'You will regret humiliating me.'
Sebastian looked almost tired.
'I regret inviting you near my child.'
That was the last public sentence he gave her.
Security escorted her into the rain with an umbrella she refused to take until the cold touched her shoulders. Pride, Elena thought, could be practical only after it had been wounded.
The guests were dismissed without dessert. Cars rolled down the long drive in careful silence. By midnight, the engagement announcement had been withdrawn, the trust amendments frozen, and Vivienne's attorney notified that any further contact would go through counsel.
Elena stood near the service corridor, still unsure whether she was employed, exiled, or simply standing in the aftermath of someone else's life.
Lily refused to let go of her hand.