Chapter 5 - The Unraveling of the Mask
The polite murmurs exploded into absolute chaos.
Guests stood up from their velvet chairs, craning their necks to get a better look at my bruised arm. In the front row, Denise Holloway went rigid, her mouth opening in a silent shriek of outrage.
“That’s a lie!” Denise screamed, jumping to her feet and pointing a jeweled finger at me. “She’s unstable! She fell down the stairs! Everyone knows she’s clumsy—Grant takes such good care of her, she’s completely unhinged!”
Grant recovered his footing with terrifying speed, his corporate instincts kicking in to manage the PR disaster unfolding in real-time. He plastered a strained, tragic smile back onto his face, holding his hands up placatingly toward the audience.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please,” Grant said, his voice dripping with condescending, sorrowful patience. “As you know, Evelyn has been under immense pressure managing the corporate transition. Her mental health has been fragile lately. I’ve tried to shield her from it, but—'”
“You tried to shield me in a locked study while you beat me for refusing to hand over thirty million dollars in proprietary software assets?” I asked, my voice cutting through his lies like a laser.
I reached up with my free hand, tapping the small wireless controller hidden inside the bodice of my gown.
High above us, the massive dual projector screens—usually reserved for displaying monogrammed engagement slides and romantic photo montages—flickered to life.
The ballroom lights dimmed automatically.
The pristine white screens flashed a bright blue, followed by the crisp, unmistakable logo of Apex Security Solutions.
Beneath the logo, bold capital letters filled the display: EVIDENCE EXHIBIT A: FINANCIAL FRAUD & CORPORATE EXTORTION.
Grant spun around, staring up at the screen. His mouth dropped open, color entirely draining from his face until he looked like a corpse under the stage lights.
“What... what is that?” Grant stammered, taking an involuntary step backward. “Turn that off! Security, cut the power to the AV booth immediately!”
“Security won’t respond, Grant,” I said calmly, stepping down from the altar platform so I could face the stunned crowd directly. “Because my legal counsel filed a federal injunction freezing your corporate network access fifteen minutes ago.”
On the screen, the display shifted.
May you like
The audio matrix kicked in.
A crisp, high-definition audio recording began to play through the ballroom’s surround-sound speakers, filling the cavernous space with Grant’s unmistakable, arrogant voice.
