Chapter 1 - And Now the Board Is Hearing Every Word
Garrett Blackwood’s hand was still in the air when Rebecca Hunter stopped breathing.
The Grand Meridian ballroom went silent.
Two hundred investors, engineers, journalists, executives, and board members froze beneath the crystal chandelier, champagne glasses suspended halfway to their mouths.
Rebecca stood in the center of the marble floor in a black sequined evening gown stained with spilled champagne down the front. Her brown hair was pinned in a loose low bun, but a few strands had fallen around her face.
Her left cheek burned.
A fresh red handprint was already swelling across her skin.
Her right hand rose slowly to touch it.
Her left hand hung low at her side, gripping a smartphone with the screen glowing quietly against her palm.
Garrett stood inches from her in a midnight-blue tuxedo, bow tie crooked, jaw clenched, expensive watch flashing beneath the ballroom lights.
His eyes were full of rage.
And pride.
He leaned closer.
“You embarrassed me for the last time.”
Behind them, Miles Chen stood pale in his black tuxedo, one hand half-raised as if he had tried to stop Garrett a second too late.
“Garrett,” Miles said, voice tight. “Stop. Everyone saw that.”
Garrett barely turned his head.
He did not look ashamed.
He looked annoyed that his performance had been interrupted.
Then he snapped his attention back to Rebecca and pointed at her as if she were the scandal.
“She’s nobody,” he said, louder now, making sure the room heard. “She’s a loser who should be grateful to stand here.”
A woman near the champagne tower covered her mouth.
One investor lowered his glass.
A journalist slowly lifted a phone.
Rebecca lowered her hand from her cheek.
The full red mark was visible now.
Her eyes were wet.
But something inside them changed.
Her fear disappeared first.
Then the hurt cooled into something sharper.
She lifted her smartphone chest-high, screen facing inward so no one could read it.
Her thumb tapped once.
A tiny red recording light blinked.
Garrett’s arrogant expression faltered.
Miles looked toward the slim black leather contract folder lying open on the nearby cocktail table.
Then his face went white.
Rebecca looked straight at her husband.
“You just said that to the woman who signed your first check.”
Garrett blinked.
“What?”
Rebecca turned slightly, just enough for the investors to see the phone in her hand, but she did not take her eyes off Garrett.
The chandelier glittered above them.
The party atmosphere died completely.
Rebecca’s voice was quiet.
May you like
Devastating.
“And now the board is hearing every word.”
