Chapter 1 - The Panic on the Staircase
The polished mahogany staircase creaked beneath Adrian’s dress shoes.
Behind him, three hundred guests held their breath in the grand ballroom.
Madison’s fingers flew across her phone screen with frantic speed.
Adrian stopped on the seventh step and turned his head slowly.
"Who are you messaging, Madison?" he asked in an eerie, quiet tone.
Madison’s thumb froze instantly above the screen.
Her face turned as white as the marble beneath her feet.
"It’s... it’s nothing, Adrian," she stammered, pulling her phone back toward her purse.
"I was just checking on the catering staff."
Natalie stepped forward from the crowd below, her eyes burning with pure fury.
"You’re lying!" Natalie yelled.
"You’re texting whoever helped you tamper with Claire’s belongings!"
Margaret Westwood rushed to the foot of the stairs, her face flushed with anxiety.
"Adrian, stop this madness right now!" Margaret demanded.
"You are making a scene in front of the entire city!"
Adrian looked down at his mother with cold, distant eyes.
"If Madison has done nothing wrong, Mother, she has nothing to fear."
Emma clutched her stuffed rabbit tighter against her chest.
"She texted the bad man," Emma whispered softly into the silence.
The room gasped in unison.
Madison’s eyes locked onto the four-year-old child with venomous hatred.
"Shut that child up!" Madison shrieked, losing her aristocratic composure completely.
"Rachel, take your little brat out of my sight before I have you both thrown into the street!"
Adrian’s jaw tightened until his muscles throbbed.
"You don't fire anyone in this house, Madison," Adrian said, every word dripping with ice.
"Not anymore."
May you like
He turned on his heel and continued up the stairs toward the east wing.
Madison made a sudden, desperate run for the front doors.
