Found

She found him at the far edge of the property, past the last row of parked cars, sitting on the low stone wall that marked where the Falconer estate ended and open field began. He'd loosened his tie until it hung crooked. His jacket was gone.

"You scared everyone," she said, breathless from running in heels she should have kicked off an hour ago.

"I scared myself," Weston said. "I've spent thirty years being the Falconer heir. The good bloodline. The old name people wanted at their tables. And none of it was real. I don't even know who I am tonight."

Vanessa sat beside him, the stone cold through her dress. "You're the man who cried at the altar because he couldn't believe his luck."

"That man doesn't have a family history worth defending."

"Good," she said. "Because I never married eleven generations, Weston. I married you. The version that exists right now, on this wall, terrified and honest, not the version on an easel my father paid a stranger to build."

He looked at her sideways. "Your father wants us annulled."

"My father wants a lot of things he doesn't get to have." She took his hand — cold, shaking slightly. "I stopped asking his permission twenty minutes ago."

"What if I'm not who either of us thought I was?"

"Then we find out together. That's what marriage is supposed to be, isn't it? Not a guarantee. A bet."

For the first time since Quill had opened that folder, Weston almost smiled. "Some bet. Married three hours and already bankrupt on family pride."

"Family pride was never the good part," Vanessa said. "You were."

Behind them, flashlight beams swept across the grass — Gerald's voice, hoarse with fear, calling both their names, followed by Corinne, then Odette's cane thumping unmistakably against gravel, then a scatter of curious guests who'd followed the search without invitation.

Gerald reached the wall first, out of breath, relief and fury warring on his face.

"Thank God," he said. "Vanessa, we need to talk about the annulment before—"

"No," Vanessa said, standing, pulling Weston up beside her. "We don't."

Every flashlight in the garden turned toward them, waiting.