Chapter 7 - The Fall of the House of Thorne
The entire grand ballroom froze into an absolute, suffocating stillness.
Three hundred heads turned simultaneously toward Chloe and David. The gasps that erupted from the crowd sounded like a collective intake of air before an execution.
Harrison Sterling slowly leaned down, scooping his granddaughter up into his arms. He cradled Lily against his chest, his large hand gently resting over her back. When he lifted his head back up, his eyes were no longer those of a businessman. They were the eyes of a merciless conqueror whose bloodline had been violated.
“Who,” Harrison Sterling asked, his voice low, flat, and carrying a terrifying resonance that rattled the crystal chandeliers, “touched my granddaughter?”
Chloe’s knees gave out. She collapsed onto the floor in her emerald gown, her glass of champagne spilling across her dress. “I... I didn't know! Sir, I swear I didn't know she was your granddaughter! She... she spilled juice on my dress! It was an accident!”
“An accident?” Catherine stepped forward, her heels clicking sharply against the polished marble floor.
She reached into her silver clutch, pulled out a high-definition digital tablet, and tapped the screen once.
Behind the central stage, the massive forty-foot LED display screens—which had been set up to showcase corporate sponsor logos—flickered and changed.
The high-definition security footage from the foyer of the Thorne mansion played in full 4K resolution across every screen in the room.
The entire elite society of New York watched in horrified silence as the video played: Chloe raising her hand and striking five-year-old Lily ten times in rapid succession; two tiny milk teeth flying onto the floor; Martha stepping in to slap Catherine; and David standing casually by the stairs, adjusting his platinum cufflinks and smirking while his daughter bled.
The audio from the security system echoed through the ballroom’s high-end speakers with chilling clarity:
“Catherine, look at the child you raised. Completely useless, just like her mother.”
“Chloe needs a flower girl for our wedding reception at the Grand Aster tonight...”
The room exploded into a hurricane of outrage.
“Monsters!” a female diplomat shouted, pointing at David.
“He let his mistress beat his own child!” a hedge fund manager growled in disgust.
“Security! Get those subhumans out of here!”
David turned as pale as a corpse. He fell to his knees beside Chloe, looking up at Catherine with pure, pathetic desperation.
“Kate... Catherine! Please!” David sobbed, reaching out toward the hem of her gown. “I was blind! I was manipulated by Chloe! I love you! I’ve always loved you! We're family!”
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Catherine looked down at him with an expression of cold, absolute disgust.
“Family?” Catherine whispered, her voice echoing clearly over the room's microphones. “You traded your family for a snake, David. And tonight, the bill has come due.”
