Chapter 5 - THE CONSENT
Deline had signed a voting proxy.
Limited.
Six months.
It transferred her voting authority in Bellamy Properties to Carmen for “continuity during marital transition.”
Deline barely remembered signing it.
Lydia presented it alongside:
venue release,
photography consent,
transport schedule,
guest privacy agreement.
Deline signed digitally.
Not forged.
Not incapacitated.
Misrepresented.
That distinction mattered.
Simone asked:
“Why would Carmen need Deline’s proxy?”
Daniel showed the ownership table.
Bellamy Properties was not huge.
A family real-estate company worth roughly forty-eight million dollars.
Carmen controlled 28%.
Simone 18%.
Deline 18%.
Lydia 8%.
Other relatives held the rest.
A sale vote was coming.
Carmen wanted to sell three downtown buildings to an investment fund.
Simone opposed.
Deline had been undecided.
With Deline’s proxy, Carmen could likely win.
Then Julian asked:
“What does this have to do with me?”
The buyer’s investment fund was pursuing financing through a bank that desperately wanted future Marzano Group business.
A public rumor that Carmen was about to become related to Julian Marzano could improve perceived access.
Not legally.
Socially.
Enough to make bankers and intermediaries more eager.
Carmen did not need Julian’s actual money.
She needed his name floating near the transaction.
Then Simone understood.
Deline’s imaginary wedding served three purposes:
Make Deline emotionally dependent on Carmen and Lydia.
Secure her proxy under “marital transition.”
Create market gossip that the Bellamys were about to become connected to Marzano.
And humiliate Simone—the family member most likely to oppose the building sale.
Deline sat in the next room when Daniel explained it.
She came in without knocking.
Her bridal makeup was gone.
Hair tied back.
She looked twenty-seven again.
Not a bride.
Not a villain.
Just furious.
“You think I’m stupid.”
Simone stared.
“You cut my dress.”
Deline flinched.
“You slapped me.”
“I know.”
“You told me I belonged in rags.”
“I know.”
Silence.
Then Deline said:
“But I was used.”
Simone answered:
“Both can be true.”
That became the line neither sister liked.
The proxy dispute also revealed something that embarrassed Deline more than the fake wedding.
She had ignored two separate warnings from her own accountant.
The first email said:
Please confirm whether “marital transition” means a legally scheduled marriage, as proxy language may affect voting control.
Deline forwarded it to Lydia.
Lydia replied:
Legal people always overcomplicate romance.
Deline never answered the accountant.
The second warning came the morning of the gala:
I still do not have a marriage-license reference or spouse disclosure for your records.
Deline deleted it.
Why?
Because evidence that challenged the fantasy felt hostile.
During mediation she admitted:
“I did not want to know.”
That mattered.
Victim of manipulation did not mean absence of agency.
Her growth began when she stopped saying:
“They made me believe.”
May you like
And started saying:
“I helped myself believe because I wanted to win.”
