Chapter 2: The Butler Who Knew Too Much
Lila lifted her head, and for a split second, she thought she was hallucinating. Standing at the back of the ballroom, by the double doors, was an elderly man in a crisp black butler’s uniform, his hair white as snow, his face lined with years of hard work. He’d been standing there all night, Lila realized, ever since she’d arrived at the venue. She’d assumed he was just part of the hotel staff, but now, as he stepped forward, his posture straight and proud, she knew he was something more.
He walked up to her, his shoes clicking against the marble floor, and bowed deeply. “Ms. Marlow,” he said, his voice deep and steady, “my name is Alfred Pennyworth. I’ve been working for your family for three generations. Your great-grandfather hired my grandfather to run his estate in Boston, and my father worked for your father before he retired last year.”
Lila stared at him, confused. She’d never met this man before. “I’m sorry,” she said, her voice cracking. “I don’t understand.”
Alfred stood up straight and looked over at Ethan and Margaret, who were now standing at the center of the room, the blonde woman clinging to Ethan’s arm. “Your father hired me to keep an eye on you,” he said. “He knew Margaret Carter was a ruthless woman, and he was afraid she’d try to sabotage your engagement. He paid me to attend every one of your pre-wedding events, to listen to every conversation, and to report back to him if anything seemed off.”
Lila’s heart raced. Her father had died suddenly last year, in a car crash, and she’d been left to run his real estate development company on her own. She’d never told anyone how much she’d struggled to keep the business afloat, how she’d taken out a second mortgage on her childhood home to pay the employees during the pandemic. “Why didn’t you tell me before?” she asked.
Alfred shook his head. “Your father told me to wait until the moment they revealed their plan,” he said. “He said you’d need to see their true colors before you made any decisions. He also gave me a sealed envelope to give you if this ever happened.” He pulled a plain white envelope from his breast pocket and handed it to her. “It contains everything you need to expose their lies.”
Lila opened the envelope, her hands shaking, and pulled out a stack of documents. There were emails between Ethan and a social media manager, discussing how to use Lila’s influence to boost his startup’s stock price. There were text messages between Ethan and Margaret, planning the fake wedding, with Margaret writing, “Make sure she posts every detail. We need those TikTok views before the earnings call.” There was even a receipt from the Etsy shop where Ethan had bought the fake wedding ring, dated three months prior.
She looked up at Alfred, her eyes filling with tears, but this time, they weren’t tears of sadness. They were tears of relief. “Thank you,” she said. “Thank you so much.”
Alfred nodded. “Your father always said you were a strong woman,” he said. “He knew you’d find a way to turn this around. Now, let’s go make them pay.”
As he spoke, the hotel’s security guards walked into the ballroom, flanked by two lawyers Lila had hired the week before, after she’d started to suspect Ethan was hiding something. The lead lawyer, a woman named Maria Gonzalez, stepped forward and held up a stack of contracts. “Ms. Marlow,” she said, “we have a cease-and-desist order against Ethan Carter and Margaret Carter. They’ve violated your right to publicity by using your image and your story to promote their business without your consent. We’re also filing a lawsuit for defamation, fraud, and emotional distress.”
Ethan’s face turned as white as a sheet. “You can’t do this,” he said, his voice shaking. “I’m a public figure. You’ll ruin my reputation.”
Lila stood up, her back straight, her eyes locked on Ethan. “You already ruined my reputation,” she said. “Now it’s my turn to get mine back.” She turned to the crowd of guests, who were still staring in shock, and held up the emails. “Everyone here,” she said, “this wasn’t a real wedding. Ethan hired me to be his fake fiancée, and his mother helped him plan it to boost their startup’s stock price. They used my social media following to get millions of views and thousands of new customers, and then they planned to dump me right before the ceremony.”
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A murmur went through the crowd, and Lila saw several guests pull out their phones to start recording. She walked over to the podium at the front of the ballroom and pulled out her own phone, which she’d set to record the entire ceremony. “I’ve been recording this whole time,” she said. “And I’m going to post every single second of it on TikTok and Instagram. You wanted viral content? Well, here you go.”
She pressed play, and the video showed Ethan dropping the fake ring, then turning to the blonde woman and kissing her. The crowd gasped, and Lila could hear the sound of dozens of phones recording her as she spoke. “If you’re thinking about hiring someone to fake a relationship or a wedding for clout,” she said, “don’t. It’s not worth it. You’ll lose everything you’ve worked for, and you’ll hurt the people who trust you.”
