A Very Exclusive Engagement

Hayden just shook his head. “I didn’t have to ruin your career. Like you said, in time, people always ruin themselves. I just happened to get that moment on film. I’m pretty sure ANS will terminate you when I show them that tape. And the FBI and congressional committee will find it very interesting. Soon, people will start rolling on you to cut a better deal for themselves. There’s no loyalty among criminals. You’ll be wearing matching orange jumpsuits with your daddy in no time.”

Graham Boyle was Angelica’s father? Liam frowned in confusion but was jerked away from his thoughts when Angelica reared back and slapped Hayden. He barely reacted to the assault, simply shaking his head and looking at her with pity in his eyes. “It’s a shame you wasted your whole life on this. I feel sorry for you.”

By now, a large crowd of the wedding guests had gathered around the argument. More witnesses. The more people that gathered, the higher Angelica’s blood pressure seemed to climb. “I don’t want your pity,” she spat.

Liam watched her fingertips curl and uncurl as she tried to keep control, but she was unraveling quickly. At last, she reached out, and before anyone could stop her, she grabbed a large fistful of wedding cake. Less than a second later, she flung it at Hayden, silencing him with a wet slap.

“What are you looking at?” she screamed at the crowd. She grabbed more cake in each hand and started launching it at the crowd. Buttercream icing flew through the air, pelting the wedding guests. They screamed and scattered. Liam checked to ensure Francesca, Aunt Beatrice and his mother were out of the line of fire, but Henry wasn’t so lucky. He took a large piece of cake to the front of his suit. But he only laughed, scraping it off his shirt and taking it in stride. After forty years with Beatrice, flying cake was probably nothing.

Before Liam could turn to get help, two burly security officers rushed past him. Angelica’s eyes went wild when she saw them. She started kicking and screaming when they tried to restrain her.

“Don’t you touch me!” she howled. “Let me go!”

Liam could only watch in amazement as she wrenched herself from the men’s grasp, only to stumble backward into the cake table. It turned over, taking Angelica and the cake with it. Angelica landed smack-dab in the middle of the towering confection, coating her from hair to rear in buttercream. She roared in anger, flailing as she tried to get up and couldn’t. When she did stand again, it was only with the help of the guards gripping her upper arms.

On her feet, she was a dripping mess. Her perfectly curled blond hair was flat and greasy with white clumps of frosting. Icing was smeared across her face and all over her purple dress. She huffed and struggled in her captors’ arms, but there was no use. They had her this time. At last, Angelica had gotten herself into a situation she couldn’t weasel out of.

“You know,” Hayden said, “looking like that, I’m surprised people didn’t see the resemblance before.”

Angelica immediately stilled and her face went as pale as the frosting. “I don’t look anything like her.”

“Oh, come on, Madeline. There’s no sense lying anymore about who you really are.”

The calm in her immediately vanished. “Never call me that name. Do you hear me? Never! Madeline Burch is dead. Dead. I am Angelica Pierce, you understand? Angelica Pierce!” she repeated, as though that might make it true.

Several people gasped in the crowd. Cara stood stock-still a few feet away with Max protectively at her side. “Rowena and I went to Woodlawn Academy with Madeline,” she said before turning to Angelica. “We were right. It is you.”

“You shut up,” Angelica spat. “You don’t know anything about me.”

“You’re right. I don’t,” Cara answered.

The guards then escorted a wildly thrashing Angelica—or Madeline—out of the ballroom. By now, the local police were likely on their way to take her into custody. First, for disorderly conduct and assault. Then, maybe, for her involvement in the hacking scandal. Either way, a scene like that was enough cause for Liam to terminate her from ANS for good.

“I’m sorry about the mess,” Hayden said, wiping some cake from his face. “I never expected her to come talk to me. She was so confident that she had me beaten. I couldn’t pass up the chance to put a crack in her facade, but I didn’t realize she’d go nuclear. It ruined your reception. Just look at the cake.”

Liam shrugged. Somehow knowing it wasn’t his real wedding made it easier to stomach. “Nailing Angelica is important. You have to take every opportunity you can get.”