Chapter 6 - The Public Fall“Sir, you need step back behind the stanchion,” the head of security said, his voice cold and professional.
Grant’s face flushed a mottled red. He tried to brush past the guard, pointing a shaking finger at me. “Elena, you are coming home right now. You are my wife, and you have no business standing up there.”
The flashes of a dozen cameras illuminated the scene, capturing every twitch of his jaw and every ounce of his exposed desperation. Reporters scrambled, microphones thrusting forward like hungry birds.
“Your wife is an independent adult, Mr. Vance,” a calm, resonant voice spoke from behind me.
It was Judge Katherine Holloway, chair of the National Community Impact Council, stepping out from the VIP entrance with her hand extended toward me. She looked at Grant with undisguised contempt. “And tonight, she is our guest of honor. If you disrupt this venue any further, security will escort you off the premises.”
Grant stared at the judge, then at the wall of cameras recording his every move. He realized instantly that he could not bully me here—not under the blinding lights of the media, and not with the state’s most influential legal figures standing shoulder-to-shoulder with me.
“This isn't over,” Grant hissed, his voice trembling with venom as he took a step back. He grabbed Beverly’s arm. “We’re leaving.”
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“Go ahead,” I said quietly, looking him straight in the eye. “The locks are already changed.”
Beverly glared at me with pure venom, her lips pressed into a thin, tight line, before turning her son around and marching him out the double glass doors into the cold night air.
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