Chapter 8 - THE GALA TRAP The ballroom glittered with chandeliers.
Politicians smiled.
Businessmen drank champagne.
Photographers waited for the Blackwood family.
They expected Victor and Serena.
Instead, Victor entered alone.
Lily followed under police protection.
Serena arrived twenty minutes later.
Red gown.
Perfect smile.
She walked through the ballroom as though nothing had happened.
Then she saw Lily.
Her smile disappeared.
“You survived.”
Lily held her gaze.
“So did Ethan.”
Serena laughed.
“You think anyone cares about a nanny?”
Lily lifted the recorder.
“They cared enough to listen.”
Serena turned toward Victor.
“Tell them what you are.”
Victor looked at the cameras.
“I signed documents I didn't read.”
“You funded the clinics.”
“Yes.”
“You funded the security.”
“Yes.”
“You built the system.”
Victor nodded.
“I did.”
Serena smiled.
Then the ballroom screens came alive.
Videos of Victor's criminal operations appeared.
Real footage mixed with edited material.
Guests panicked.
Serena whispered:
“You wanted the truth?”
She smiled.
“Here is all of it.”
Victor did not run.
He stood there.
Because he finally understood that hiding his sins only gave people like Serena weapons.
Lily stepped forward.
“Victor isn't a hero.”
Silence.
“He failed.”
She looked at Serena.
“But he didn't hurt Ethan.”
“You did.”
Serena's face twisted.
She ran.
Police pursued her through the service corridors.
Then the lights went out.
The emergency alarm screamed.
Victor's phone buzzed.
May you like
The hospital feed had disappeared.
Ethan was gone.
