Chapter 5 - The Screens Flicker to Life
The tension in the grand ballroom reached a suffocating peak. Guests began whispering frantically behind their champagne flutes, checking their phones, searching financial records.
"Adrian, she's trying to tear us apart!" Vanessa cried, throwing her arms around his neck, weeping hysterically against his chest. "I love you! I’ve always loved you! We built this together! Don't let an outsider destroy our future five minutes before we say our vows!"
Adrian stood rigid. He didn't wrap his arms around her. His hands remained clenched at his sides, his eyes fixed on Elena.
"You said you had proof, Elena," Adrian said, his voice strained, fighting against the crushing betrayal threatening to break him. "Show me."
Elena didn't hesitate. She pointed the small remote control from her clutch toward the ceiling.
Above the floral arch, two giant high-definition screens—originally set up to show a romantic montage of Adrian and Vanessa’s courtship—flickered. The romantic piano music that had been softly playing through the sound system cut out.
A low static hum echoed through the speakers.
"No! Turn it off!" Vanessa screamed, suddenly lunging toward the AV booth at the side of the hall. "Turn it off right now! I'm the bride! I forbid this!"
"Let it play," Adrian barked, his voice booming with a terrifying finality.
The security guards, who had taken two steps toward Elena, stopped dead. They recognized the tone. Adrian Mercer was no longer a confused groom; he was a CEO whose foundation was shaking.
The screens flashed, and a time-stamped video appeared.
The setting was unmistakable: the bridal suite on the third floor of this very hotel, recorded exactly forty-five minutes ago, while the guests were still arriving in the lobby downstairs.
On the screen, Vanessa was not weeping. She was not the blushing, innocent bride in white.
She was standing near the vanity, a glass of bourbon in her hand, talking to a man whose back was to the camera. A man wearing a groomsman’s tuxedo.
"Are the papers ready?" Vanessa’s recorded voice rang through the ballroom, crisp, sharp, and dripping with venom.
The man turned around on screen.
A collective gasp exploded across the room. Adrian’s head snapped toward the altar party.
The man in the video was Julian Hayes—Adrian’s college roommate, his best man, and the chief operating officer of Mercer Holdings.
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