Chapter 3 - When the Screens Went BlackInside the Solmere lobby, the jazz music stopped.
Every conversation died with it.
Hundreds of guests looked toward the massive LED wall.
Arthur Sterling was explaining a real estate expansion to an international investor when the screen changed.
The luxury advertisement disappeared.
Then Victoria appeared.
On camera.
"Get out!"
Her own voice echoed through the lobby.
The recording showed everything.
The slap.
The insults.
The blood.
The dragging.
The humiliation.
The crowd watched in absolute silence.
Then someone whispered:
"That's the girl they said was mentally ill."
Arthur's face lost its color.
"Shut it down."
The IT director frantically typed commands.
"I can't, sir."
"Then cut the power!"
"We already tried."
The screen changed again.
A legal document appeared.
LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF BEATRICE VALE.
Then:
SECTION 14, PARAGRAPH C.
The ownership clause appeared in enlarged text.
A second document followed.
The forensic audit.
Forty-two million dollars.
Transferred.
Hidden.
Stolen.
And connected to Victoria Vance.
The room erupted.
Phones came out.
People started recording.
Someone called a lawyer.
Another person called a reporter.
Arthur stood frozen.
Then he looked through the glass doors.
I was standing outside.
Watching him.
His eyes met mine.
For the first time in my life, I saw fear in Arthur Sterling's face.
Real fear.
The kind that couldn't be hidden behind expensive suits or polished smiles.
He whispered my name.
"Charlotte."
May you like
I smiled.
And the entire empire shifted beneath his feet.
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