Chapter Nineteen
Piper
Piper Quinn had been awake for nearly twenty-four hours when she realized Vantage had made its first useful mistake.
She stood beneath the old rink lights with the showcase sponsorship agreement in one hand and the event calendar open on Daniel’s paper planner.
“The installation window begins forty-eight hours before the event,” she said.
Daniel looked up from the counterproposal. “Yes.”
“The showcase is six days away.”
The coaches’ room went quiet.
Emmett moved beside her. “They could not have installed yesterday.”
“Not legally.”
Piper read the clause again, slower this time.
Vantage Moments had access to the venue beginning at eight Friday morning. The Summer Wedding Showcase opened the following Sunday.
Six days.
Not forty-eight hours.
Sasha crossed the room and looked over Piper’s shoulder. “Celeste said they installed yesterday.”
“No,” Piper replied. “She said they already had access. We assumed that meant the installation was complete.”
Griffin folded his arms. “What else could it mean?”
Piper’s pulse began climbing.
“Someone gave them access early.”
Maren picked up the printed venue schedule. “Who can authorize that?”
“Me. The venue manager. Fire and safety. No one else.”
Daniel’s expression hardened. “Did you authorize an early load-in?”
“No.”
“Could the venue manager?”
“Not without sending me an amendment.”
Emmett looked toward the equipment cabinet containing their sealed phones. “Owen still had access to her business email.”
Piper was already moving.
“We need to get to the venue.”
Daniel glanced at the clock. “It is two seventeen in the morning.”
“The building has night security.”
“You are exhausted.”
“So is whoever forged my approval. We should use the advantage.”
Emmett picked up his coat.
Piper looked at him. “You do not have to come.”
“I know.”
“That was not a test.”
“I know.”
“You have a suspension review in six hours.”
“I also know how clocks work.”
“You need sleep.”
“So do you.”
Piper opened her mouth.
Then stopped.
She had almost told him his career mattered more than coming with her. Almost made the decision sound generous. Almost reduced his choice because she was afraid of what it might cost him.
Emmett noticed.
Of course he did.
“What?” he asked.
Piper exhaled. “Do you want to come?”
“Yes.”
“Then come.”
His mouth moved.
Small.
Proud.
Annoying.
“Do not make that face,” she said.
“I am not making one.”
“You are celebrating emotional progress internally.”
“It has been a difficult season.”
Twenty minutes later, two university security vehicles and Daniel’s rented SUV left the old rink without phones, navigation systems, or anything connected to a network.
Piper sat beside Emmett in the rear seat, holding the sponsorship agreement against her knee.
The driver used printed directions.
Maren and Sasha followed with Griffin in the second vehicle. Tyler and Beckett had been returned to Brennan’s cabin under Nate’s supervision after Tyler suggested that covert venue entry required matching black clothing.
Piper had not explained that entering her own event venue was not covert.
She had also taken away his walkie-talkie.
The showcase venue sat on the eastern edge of Lake Briar, where an old textile warehouse had been converted into an event hall with high brick walls, exposed beams, and windows facing the water.
Piper had chosen it because the building felt permanent.
Tonight, three white production trucks filled the loading area behind it.
Every truck carried the Vantage Moments logo.
Emmett leaned forward. “That looks installed.”
Piper stared through the window.
The rear loading doors were open. Black equipment cases lined the ramp. Thick cables disappeared into the building through a side entrance.
A security guard stood beside the largest truck drinking coffee.
He waved when he recognized Piper.
That was worse than being stopped.
The vehicles parked beside the loading dock.
Piper climbed out before Daniel could remind her not to touch anything.
The guard smiled.
“Ms. Quinn. I did not know you were coming for the overnight test.”
Piper stopped.
“What overnight test?”
His smile weakened. “The full system check.”
“Who authorized it?”
“You did.”
Emmett moved beside her.
Not in front.
The guard noticed him and straightened.
Piper held out her hand. “Show me the authorization.”
He opened a binder inside the security booth and removed a printed email.
The message had come from Piper’s business account three days earlier.
The language was almost right.
Almost.
Please allow Vantage Moments to begin accelerated installation and testing immediately. Their capture team will require unrestricted access to public and preparation areas through the conclusion of the Summer Wedding Showcase.
Piper read the final line.
Thank you for helping me create the perfect moment.
Her skin turned cold.
Owen used that phrase constantly when he described her.
Perfect moment.
Perfect life.
Perfect story.
Proof that she valued appearance more than people.
Piper handed the page to Daniel.
“I did not send this.”
The guard looked alarmed. “The address is yours.”
“The account was compromised.”
“I called the number in the signature.”
“What number?”
He pointed toward the bottom of the page.
Not Piper’s.
The number belonged to the temporary phone Sasha had used while working for Keller Media.
Sasha stared at it.
“Owen kept that line active.”
“Who answered?” Piper asked.
The guard shook his head. “A woman. She confirmed the schedule.”
“Celeste?” Daniel asked.
Sasha looked toward the trucks. “Or someone from Vantage production.”
Piper faced the building.
“How many people are inside?”
“Four technicians. The venue manager. A lighting assistant.”
“Stop the test.”
Daniel touched her arm lightly. “We need the equipment preserved as evidence.”
“I am not asking them to remove it.”
Piper looked at the guard.
“Shut every door. No one leaves with a device, drive, case, or piece of paper until law enforcement inventories the installation.”
The guard paused.
Daniel handed him a card. “Call the number printed there. The county investigator will confirm.”
Emmett looked toward the open loading bay.
“What do you need?”
Piper’s answer came immediately.
“To see what they built inside my event.”
The main hall was no longer hers.
That was Piper’s first thought when the night guard unlocked the interior doors.
The space she had spent eleven months designing had been transformed into a production set.
Camera tracks ran beneath the ceiling beams. Small black lenses had been inserted into decorative uplights. Microphones hid inside artificial floral installations waiting to be finished by vendors later that week.
Two tall guest-recognition towers stood beside the entrance, their polished white surfaces printed with the Quinn Events logo.
Piper had never approved her logo for the devices.
A technician froze beside the central control station when the group entered.
The venue manager, Elise Morton, hurried across the floor in slippers and a long cardigan.
“Piper, what is happening?”
“That is my question.”
Elise looked at Daniel and the security officers.
“The installation was approved.”
“By a forged email.”
Elise’s face lost color.
“I called the confirmation number.”
“I know.”
“They knew the event schedule. The private load-in code. Your vendor requirements.”
“They had access to my business files.”
Elise looked toward the guest-recognition stations.
“Oh God.”
Piper wanted to reassure her.
The instinct arrived automatically.
Not your fault. You followed the process. We will fix this.
She stopped before the words escaped.
Elise had followed a process that allowed someone to move an entire surveillance system into the building based on one email and a phone call to a number printed inside that same email.
Piper could understand the mistake without pretending it had caused no harm.
“We will review the security failure later,” she said. “Right now, no one activates or removes anything.”
Elise nodded.
The technician near the control station lifted both hands.
“We were told the test had executive approval.”
“From whom?” Daniel asked.
“Celeste Rowan.”
“Did you record anything tonight?”
The technician glanced at the central screens.
Piper followed his gaze.
Twenty-four camera feeds covered the monitors.
Loading dock.
Main entrance.
Vendor hall.
Stage.
Catering corridor.
Bridal preparation suite.
Groom’s room.
Piper’s office.
She stepped closer.
“You installed a camera inside my office.”
“It is a production coordination room.”
“It is my office during the event.”
“We were told all areas were approved.”
“Were the dressing rooms recording?” Emmett asked.
The technician swallowed. “Testing only. No guests were present.”
“That was not the question.”
“Yes.”
Emmett’s body changed beside Piper.
The technician saw it.
Piper touched Emmett’s hand.
Not to control him.
To tell him she was there too.
He looked at her.
“What do you need?” he asked.
“Stay.”
His fingers closed around hers.
Daniel moved toward the screens. “Where is the footage stored?”
“Local test server. Nothing uploaded until final system certification.”
Sasha crossed the room.
“That is not how Vantage works.”
The technician looked at her. “Who are you?”
“Someone who edited their lies.”
She pointed toward a small silver unit beneath the control desk.
“That is a mirror relay. Every feed is copied before it reaches the local server.”
The technician crouched.
His face changed when he saw the device.
“That was not in our installation plan.”
“Who added it?” Daniel asked.
“I do not know.”
Sasha looked at the equipment label.
“No serial number.”
Piper’s anger became very calm.
“How long has it been transmitting?”
The technician checked the status panel.
“Thirty-one hours.”
Elise pressed one hand to her mouth.
Thirty-one hours of venue workers.
Security staff.
Vendors dropping off equipment.
Piper’s assistant reviewing the floor plan that afternoon.
All recorded before the legal installation window began.
Vantage had already breached the sponsor agreement.
Piper opened the printed contract again.