Chapter 3 - The Planted Watch
"Hold on," Adrian commanded, lifting a single hand toward the guards. His voice possessed an authority that made the security team halt instantly.
Adrian Mercer had built an eight-billion-dollar empire out of sheer will and relentless intellect, but right now, his eyes betrayed a profound, sickening confusion. He stared at Elena, then down at the ruined floor.
"Elena," Adrian said gently, his tone softening in a way that made Vanessa’s hands shake with fury. "You disappeared two weeks ago. You stopped answering my calls. You resigned from the board without a word. Then my grandfather’s vintage Patek Philippe went missing from my penthouse safe, and Vanessa found it..."
"Found it in my locker at the foundation office?" Elena finished his sentence smoothly.
Adrian blinked. "How did you know that?"
"Because she put it there," Elena replied.
Vanessa lunged forward, her voice cracking. "She stole it, Adrian! She was bitter because you proposed to me and not her! I caught her leaving the building that night! I showed you the security log!"
"You showed him a manipulated log," Elena said, unzipping her gold clutch with slow, deliberate precision.
She didn't pull out a weapon. She pulled out a sleek, brushed-aluminum flash drive and a folded sheet of parchment with an embossed legal stamp.
"Three days ago," Elena explained, speaking to the room, "Vanessa came to my design studio in SoHo. She brought two men with her. They ransacked my desk, smashed my mother’s pottery, and told me that an orphan with no family pedigree had no right to sit on the board of Mercer Holdings."
"That's a lie!" Vanessa screamed, her aristocratic facade peeling away to reveal something ugly and feral. "Adrian, don't listen to this filthy trash!"
"Vanessa called me scum," Elena repeated, her voice deadpan, chillingly calm. "She said you were her ticket to clearing her family’s offshore debts. And then she made one fatal mistake."
Elena held up the flash drive between two manicured fingers.
"She assumed I was an employee."
A dead silence fell over the ballroom. Even the string quartet, frozen behind their instruments, seemed to stop breathing.
Adrian frowned, his brow furrowing. "Elena... what are you talking about?"
"Ask her who owns the venue, Adrian," Elena said quietly. "Ask her who signed the contract for this entire hotel."
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👉 What shocking truth was printed on the parchment Elena was holding?
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