Janey reached the altar. Marcus practically shoved her hand into Austin's.

Austin's hand was dry and cool. As his fingers closed around hers, he leaned in, ostensibly to kiss her cheek.

"Is it done?" he murmured against her skin.

"Watch the screens," Janey breathed back.

They separated. They turned to face the officiant.

"Dearly beloved," the priest began, his voice booming through the acoustics of the cathedral-style ballroom. "We are gathered here today to unite these two families..."

Janey stared straight ahead. Her heart was hammering against her ribs, but her face was a mask of serene devotion.

She counted the seconds.

One. Two. Three.

The officiant droned on about unity and legacy. The guests shifted in their seats.

"And now," the priest said, gesturing to the massive LED screens flanking the altar, "let us look back at the journey that brought us here."

The lights dimmed.

The screens flickered to life.

For a moment, it was a montage of childhood photos. A young Austin. A young Doria (with Janey's face expertly photoshopped in for public consumption). Polite applause rippled through the crowd.

Then, the image distorted. Static cut across the smiling faces.

The feed switched.

The resolution was grainy, a security camera angle, high up in a corner. But the picture was clear enough.

It was a bedroom. The VIP Suite.

Two figures were on the bed.

A collective gasp sucked the air out of the room.

The woman was on top, her pink maid-of-honor dress torn at the shoulder. She was frantic, her movements wild and uncoordinated.

"Doria?" someone whispered in the front row.

The man beneath her turned his face to the side.

Carter Hayes.

He was laughing, gripping Doria's hips, but he was looking at the door, shouting something.

The audio feed kicked in with a screech of feedback.

"Babe!" Carter's voice boomed through the wedding speakers. "Your sister is all over me! You better get up here!"

Silence. Absolute, dead silence.

Doria, delirious, grabbed Carter's face. "Austin... just sign the papers... give me the money..."

The crowd erupted.

Marcus Roy dropped his champagne glass. It shattered, the sound like a gunshot. His face drained of all blood.

Helene Roy, Doria's mother, stood up and screamed. "Turn it off! Turn it off!"

She scrambled toward the A/V booth, but the door was locked. Vivian had done her job.

On the screen, Doria was kissing Carter, mumbling about the stock price and the prenup.

Austin stood perfectly still. He looked up at the screen, his expression unreadable. Then he turned to look at Janey.

Janey brought her hands to her mouth. She widened her eyes. She took a stumbling step back.

"Doria?" she cried out, her voice breaking perfectly. "Carter? How could they?"

She looked like a woman whose heart had just been ripped out.

Austin caught her arm, steadying her. His grip was firm. He looked into her eyes and saw the calculation behind the tears.

He stepped up to the microphone.

"It seems," Austin said, his voice cutting through the chaos like a blade, "that the Roy family has provided a very specific dowry."

He looked out at the horrified board members, the gleeful press, the ruined Roys.

"Cut the feed," he ordered calmly.

The screens went black.

But the damage was nuclear.

"Get out of my way!"

Marcus kicked the door of the VIP Suite open. The wood splintered.

He stormed in, followed by Helene and a swarm of security guards. A few reporters had slipped past the cordon, their phones raised, recording everything.

The smell in the room was sour-sex and sweat.

Carter pushed Doria off him. He looked at the door, dazed. The drugs weren't in his system, but the shock was paralyzing him.

"Mr. Roy," Carter stammered, pulling his shirt together. "This isn't-she came onto me-"

Marcus didn't listen. He punched Carter in the jaw.

Carter stumbled back, crashing into a side table.

Doria was rolling on the bed, giggling. "Daddy? Did we win?"

Helene threw a coat over her daughter, sobbing. "Stop filming! Get out! Everyone get out!"

Downstairs, the ballroom was a hive of activity.

Austin stood in the center of the storm, an island of calm. He was directing his security team with hand signals.

Janey stood beside him. She was dabbing her eyes with a tissue.

A board member, a heavy-set man named Sterling, marched up to them.

"Walton! This is a circus! Is this the merger we voted for?"

Austin turned his cold gaze on Sterling. "This is a private moral failure of the Roy family. It has no bearing on the asset valuation of the merger. In fact, given the breach of conduct, we will be renegotiating the terms."

Janey stepped forward. She lowered the tissue.

"I am so sorry, Mr. Sterling," she said, her voice soft. "I had no idea my sister hated me this much. To ruin the family name just to hurt me..."

She looked fragile. Innocent.

The elevator doors pinged open.

Security dragged Carter and a stumbling Doria into the lobby. Marcus followed, looking like a man walking to the gallows.

Doria saw Janey. The fog in her brain cleared for a second, replaced by pure venom.

"You!" Doria shrieked, pointing a shaking finger. "You did this! You gave me that drink!"

The lobby went quiet.

Janey gasped, shrinking behind Austin.

Austin stepped in front of her. He was a wall of black wool and muscle.

"Are you accusing my wife," Austin said, his voice dangerously low, "of forcing you to drink alcohol while you were having sex with her ex-boyfriend?"

"No!" Doria cried. "It was the drug! The drug for you! She switched it!"

Gasps.

Doria froze. She realized what she had just said.

Carter closed his eyes.

"The drug for me?" Austin repeated.

Janey peeked out from behind Austin's arm. She looked at Doria, her eyes wide with feigned horror and confusion.

"A drug?" Janey asked, her voice trembling. "Doria... what were you planning? You came to my room earlier... you said you had a way out for me..."

Doria's drug-addled mind couldn't follow the trap. All she saw was betrayal. "I told you!" she screamed at her father. "I told you the plan! The sedative for Austin! To void the prenup so she could leave with the money!"

It was a death sentence, confessed live.

Marcus turned on his daughter. His face was purple.

He slapped her.

The sound was wet and heavy. Doria fell to the floor, clutching her cheek, staring up at her father in shock.

"You stupid, stupid girl," Marcus hissed.

Janey watched them. She felt nothing. No pity. No joy. Just the cold satisfaction of a balanced equation.

She looked up at Austin. He was looking down at her.

He saw the setup. He saw the manipulation.

He didn't look angry. He looked impressed.

Carter Hayes shoved a security guard away. He smoothed his hair, trying to regain some shred of dignity.

He locked eyes with Janey.

"Janey," he pleaded, stepping toward her. "Tell them. Tell them this is a misunderstanding. We... we have a history."

He was playing the emotional card. The one that had worked for years.

Janey stepped out from behind Austin. She stopped three feet from Carter.

"History?" she asked. Her voice wasn't weak anymore. "You mean when you used my keycard to steal the Roy prototypes? Or when you and Doria laughed about my 'daddy issues' in bed?"

Carter paled. "Don't be crazy. I have texts-"

"And I have memories," Janey interrupted. She turned to Austin's CFO, who was standing nearby, looking grim. "Mr. Henderson, check the logs for Walton Corp's offshore accounts. Look for a short sale initiated three days ago against Roy Group, funneled through a shell company called Vanguard Tech. The transaction ID will be linked to an encrypted IP address that bounces through three servers before terminating in the Cayman Islands. But the initial authorization came from a terminal inside Hayes Industries headquarters."

Carter's knees buckled.

"The SEC might take months to unravel that," Janey said coolly, her eyes fixed on Carter. "But your board won't."

"How..." Carter whispered. "How did you know that?"

"I have my ways," Janey said. "And as of five minutes ago, when my husband crushed your short, he owns your debt."

Carter looked like he was going to vomit. Federal prison wasn't a possibility anymore; it was a certainty.

"And regarding our 'history'," Janey continued, her voice hardening into diamond. "If I ever hear my name in your mouth again..."

She turned to Austin.

"My husband will sue you until you are living in a cardboard box."

My husband.

Austin raised an eyebrow. He liked the sound of that.

He stepped forward, aligning himself with her. A united front.

"You heard Mrs. Walton," Austin said. "Get off my property, Hayes. Before I have you removed in pieces."

Carter looked at the two of them. The cripple and the bastard daughter. They looked like royalty.

He spat on the floor, glared at Janey, and turned around. The security guards grabbed his arms and marched him out.

A slow clap started. Then another.

The guests were cheering. They loved a villain, but they loved a winner more.

Janey turned to Austin. Her shoulders slumped slightly. The adrenaline was fading, leaving her trembling.

"Thank you," she whispered. "For playing along."

Austin looked at her. He took a glass of water from a passing tray and handed it to her.

"You are ruthless, Janey," he said. It was a compliment.

"Survival requires it," she replied, taking the glass.

Their fingers brushed. A spark, not of romance, but of recognition.

Suddenly, the main doors banged open again.

A rough, booming voice echoed through the hall.

"Where is she? Where is my granddaughter?"

An old man in a cheap suit, smelling of tobacco and machine oil, strode in. Behind him were four burly men in union jackets.

Arthur Vance. The head of the Steelworkers Union.

And Janey's grandfather.