Chapter 4 - The Letters We Keep
By Monday morning, the fallout had moved from family screaming matches to the quiet, devastating arena of legal paperwork.
Tyler and Haley’s destination wedding had officially dissolved into a chaotic mess of cancelled hotel rooms, non-refundable deposits, and furious out-of-state guests who had flown into New York only to discover that the venue had been legally shuttered by its own owners.
My phone buzzed constantly with emails from my father’s corporate attorneys threatening breach-of-contract lawsuits, defamation claims, and emergency injunctions against Wildflower Hospitality LLC.
Daniel sat at the dining room table with our corporate lawyer, Sarah Chen, reviewing every single document as it arrived.
"They're throwing everything at the wall," Sarah said, adjusting her glasses as she scrolled through a twelve-page letter from a Manhattan firm representing my father. "They're claiming bad faith, fraudulent inducement, and tortious interference."
"Can they touch the LLC?" I asked, standing by the window with a cup of tea.
"Not a chance," Sarah said with a confident smile. "Every single clause in the master agreement is ironclad. Tyler signed as a commercial client receiving a family discount, not as a co-owner or priority stakeholder. Section 14 gives you absolute discretion to cancel for breach of conduct—and uninviting the venue owner via a text message while publicly defaming her character constitutes a textbook breach of operating protocols."
She paused, looking up at me. "Though your father is pulling every favor he has in the local commercial real estate board. He's trying to get our vendor licensing flagged."
Before I could answer, my phone buzzed on the counter.
It wasn't a lawyer. It wasn't my father.
It was an unknown local number with a text message attached to a screenshot.
Kora. This is Detective Miller with the town police department. Your father’s firm just filed a formal complaint alleging unauthorized corporate sabotage of a private event. I need to speak with you and Daniel this afternoon.
I stared at the screen, a cold prickle of adrenaline washing over my skin.
"What is it?" Daniel asked, noticing my expression.
I handed him the phone.
May you like
Sarah read it over his shoulder, her professional calm instantly hardening. "They're escalating from civil litigation to criminal harassment. Your father is actually trying to get you arrested."
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