Page 80 of A Sip of Sherry

Another door slammed.“You think?”Wyatt said.

Ben closed his eyes, shook his head, then slowly lowered me to the ground.

“You have my donuts?”Wyatt called out.

“You drove here for donuts?”Ben asked.

Rose sighed.“You and those damn donuts.It’s all he’s been talking about.”

“They’re good donuts.”

Ben laughed and went to the truck, retrieving the box and handing it to Wyatt.

Wyatt let out a very enthusiastic, “Yes!”

“We’re not here about the donuts,” Rose said.“We’re here about the canceled rental.”

“What about it?”Ben asked before I could.

“I called Murray and had him send me the email.It looked official and was signed by Laurent, except look at this.”

Rose turned her tablet to us, and I looked closely at the email that was exactly that—a cancelation.But then my eyes drifted to Laurent's signature.

“Laurent never signs his emails, L.Grasso.He always just signs themLaurent.”

“Exactly,” Rose said, then turned the tablet back to her and tapped the screen a few times.“I thought that was weird, too, so I did some digging and was able to locate the IP address.It didn’t come from Laurent’s office.It didn’t even come from the vineyard.”She paused for what I assume was dramatic effect, as if we didn’t already know, then pointed to a highlighted line on the screen.“It came from an address registered to Gold Crest Holdings.”

Ben leaned in, the muscle in his jaw ticking.“My father.”

Rose nodded.“The IP is linked to his corporate server.Either he sent it himself or someone that works for him sent it.Either way, it was deliberate.”

“Your dad’s a real dick,” Wyatt said around a vanilla glaze.

“That’s not all,” Rose said.“The email was a confirmation.Someone called to cancel the order.Murray sent me the recording.”Rose angled toward me, her expression tightening.“It was your voice, Sher.”

Confusion slammed into me.“I didn’t call.How is that even possible?”

“I think someone used your old voicemails and clipped them together, or ran them through AI to mimic your voice.Either is possible.”

My heart stuttered in my chest.“They faked my voice?”A chill rolled down my spine.I felt… violated.They used my own voice, the one thing that was uniquely mine, as a weapon against me and my family.

Ben swore under his breath, his shoulders stiff with tension.

I rested my hand on his bicep.“Your father knows how big this wedding coming up is,” I said.“Domenique had met with them and chose us.I bet that was a real blow to his ego.He wants us to fail.If things start going wrong now—”

“He’s planting seeds,” Ben said.

“Yeah.”I squeezed his arm, wanting him to know I didn’t hold this against him.He wasn’t his father, and he had no control over what that man did.

Ben dragged his fingers over his mouth, then let them fall to his side.“He’s trying to destroy you and your family’s legacy… and me.”

Rose folded her arms over her chest.“Well, he crossed the wrong Grasso.I have proof of what he did and can present it in front of the board at the next town hall meeting.”

“My father doesn’t leave a trail,” Ben said.

“He did this time.He might have invented the game, but he’s old and out of touch with new technology.”

“And we have a genius on our side.”Wyatt wrapped his arm around Rose and pulled her close.She shook her head with a laugh before using her finger to wipe the frosting off his face.

---