Chapter 5 - The Voice of Authority
Ava followed her husband’s instructions without a single second of hesitation.
Despite the pain radiating through her back and abdomen, she pulled the phone away from her ear, tapped the speakerphone icon, maximized the volume, and held the glowing device up in front of her white satin maternity dress.
Across the room, Blake was holding the BMW keys, boasting loudly to a group of investors about the "superior German engineering" of his new ride. Eleanor was standing beside him, beaming with artificial pride.
Suddenly, a terrifyingly cold, echoing voice sliced through the ambient noise of the grand ballroom, overriding the classical music and stopping every conversation dead in its tracks.
"Ava, put me on speaker," Ethan's deadly calm, echoing tone blasted through the digital speaker, the sheer, commanding authority in his voice demanding absolute submission from everyone in the room. "Nobody in that room leaves until the police arrive."
The wealthy guests froze, turning their heads in collective confusion and sudden alarm toward the pregnant woman holding the phone.
Eleanor’s smug, triumphant smile vanished instantly. She dropped her arms to her sides, her eyes widening in sheer shock as she stared across the room at her daughter.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Eleanor demanded, her voice shrill with sudden panic as she tried to maintain her aristocratic facade. "Ava! Turn that off immediately! You are embarrassing your sister on her special night!"
Ethan’s voice reverberated from the phone, colder than ice. "The only person embarrassed tonight, Eleanor, will be you when you're wearing handcuffs in front of your country club friends."
Blake, still holding his champagne glass, let out a nervous, arrogant scoff. He stepped forward, trying to project dominance. "Listen here, buddy," Blake yelled toward the phone. "Your mother-in-law gave us a car. If you can't afford to buy your wife a new one, that's your problem, not ours. You're making a fool of yourself."
The line went silent for three excruciating seconds.
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"Blake," Ethan’s voice returned, low and vibrating with a promise of absolute destruction. "That BMW is not registered to Ava. It is a highly classified armored transport vehicle registered solely to Vanguard Security Corporation. You are currently holding stolen federal corporate property. And you assaulted a pregnant woman to get it."
👉 Read Part 6 to see the trap snap shut on Eleanor and Blake.
