Chapter 1 - The Splattered Champagne
The air inside the grand banquet hall turned instantly to ice. Cold red wine trickled down my collarbone, soaking heavily into the emerald green satin of my evening dress. The harsh, burning sting on my right cheek from Sienna's open-handed slap was still throbbing, but the physical pain was completely overshadowed by the sickening silence that settled over the crowd after Landon’s father landed that brutal kick.
Landon lay sprawled among the crushed, expensive flower arrangements near the entrance. White petals and dark soil scattered across his tailored black suit. Gasping for air, he pushed himself up using the edge of a overturned wooden pedestal, his dark eyes wide with pure, unfiltered disbelief.
"Why are you protecting her?!" Landon roared, his deep voice echoing off the high crystal chandeliers of the ballroom.
Victor didn't answer right away. The sixty-six-year-old patriarch of Vance Enterprise stood frozen in his dark tuxedo. His usual authoritative, cold demeanor shattered in an instant, replaced by a flash of sheer, unadulterated panic. His right foot was still slightly raised from the kick. Slowly, he dropped his gaze toward Sienna, who was sitting on the polished hardwood floor right next to the ruined birthday table. Her champagne-colored party dress was stained with red wine and smeared with thick white cake frosting, her platinum blonde hair wild around her face.
"Victor..." Sienna whispered, her voice trembling so hard her jaw shook. "Tell him he's wrong. Tell him right now."
"Shut your mouth, Sienna!" Victor hissed, his sharp voice cracking—a rare crack in a man who had ruled Wall Street for thirty years.
I pushed myself up from the cold floor, clutching my bruised cheek. The surrounding guests—over two hundred high-society figures—were standing in absolute shock. Dozens of smartphones were held high in the air, their camera lenses gleaming under the banquet lights, recording and live-streaming every single second of the chaos.
Landon scrambled to his feet, ignoring the dirt on his jacket. He lunged forward, stepping directly between Victor and me. He reached out with a trembling hand, grabbing my arm gently to steady me. "Aubrey... baby, are you hurt?"
"I'm fine," I choked out, wiping sticky red wine from my eyelashes. My eyes moved rapidly between the three of them. "Landon... what is going on? Why did your father just kick you for standing up to her?"
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Landon turned on Victor, his fists clenched so tight his knuckles turned bone-white. "You kicked your own son to stop me from touching her. Sienna stands here claiming she’s pregnant with my child, but I’ve never laid a finger on her in my entire life! So whose baby is it, Dad? Answer me!"
Victor’s mouth opened, but no coherent words came out. The powerful man who had built a multi-billion-dollar empire looked like he had just watched his entire life collapse right in front of him.
