“You called me a disaster. That is fine. I have been called worse by competitors who later begged for contracts.”
He turned to Paula.
“You laughed at a man you believed had nothing. That says more about you than it ever could about me.”
He looked at Melissa.
“I trusted you to love my son for his heart. You laughed when he was humiliated. That is not love.”
Melissa stepped forward, voice shaking.
“I did not know. I swear. I would never have laughed if I knew who he was.”
I stared at her.
“That is exactly the problem,” I said. “You only respect people when you know their worth in money.”
Silence swallowed the room. The string quartet stopped playing. Waiters froze with trays in hand.
My father placed a gentle hand on my shoulder.
“Come, Brandon,” he said. “We are leaving.”
As we walked down the aisle together, security staff quietly moved aside to give us space. Guests parted like water. Some reached out to greet my father now, desperate to attach themselves to the revealed power. He did not acknowledge them.