Chapter 4 - The Public Humiliation
Claire’s eyes welled with perfectly practiced tears. She pressed a trembling hand against her chest, letting her diamond ring catch the spotlight.
“I’ve stayed silent for months, Adrian,” Claire sobbed, projecting her voice so every socialite, judge, and CEO in the room could hear. “I saw the way she looked at you. I ignored the late-night calls, the endless excuses to stay alone with you in your office. But crashing our rehearsal dinner? Accusing me of stealing?”
Murmurs rippled through the high-society crowd. Disgusted whispers echoed off the high ceiling.
“Shameless,” muttered an elderly board member.
“She’s obsessed with him,” a woman in emeralds whispered loudly. “Security should drag her out into the rain.”
Adrian’s stepbrother, Julian Ashford—Claire’s cousin and Vale’s chief operating officer—stepped forward from the shadows. He signaled two massive private security guards flanking the entrance.
“Get this pathetic gold-digger out of my family’s house,” Julian barked, pointing a finger directly at Mara’s face. “You’re fired, Bennett. Hand over your badge before we have you arrested for industrial espionage.”
The guards advanced. Mara’s breath caught in her throat. She looked at Adrian, expecting him to yield to social pressure, expecting him to look away.
Instead, Adrian stood motionless, his eyes burning with an ominous intensity.
“Wait,” Adrian commanded. The single word sliced through the room like a gunshot.
Julian scoffed. “Adrian, she’s humiliating your bride! Look at Claire, she’s trembling!”
Adrian slowly looked down at the photograph in his palm. Then he looked at Claire, whose lower lip quivered in theatrical misery.
“Julian,” Adrian said in a low, terrifyingly calm voice. “Where did you say you were on Tuesday night between nine and midnight?”
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👉 *Click to read Part 5: The fatal slip that exposed the conspiracy!*
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