Chapter 4 - THE PREDATOR UNMASKED AND THE COLLAPSE OF THE EMPIRE
"How long?"
Lucas’s voice wasn't loud. It didn't boom across the courtyard. It was a soft, dead whisper, carrying the chilling weight of a predator cornered in its own trap.
Elena stopped backing away. She hit the edge of the stone balustrade overlooking the cliffside gardens. Realizing that the game was entirely up, the fragile, trembling bride facade melted away, replaced by something cold, calculating, and venomous. Her lips curled into a hard, humorless smirk.
"How long do you think, Lucas?" Elena tilted her head, her voice dropping all pretense of sweetness, echoing clearly through the clip-on microphone she still wore for the ceremony. "Do you really think a woman like me—with my ambitions, my tastes, my connections—would look twice at a dull, overly sentimental tech nerd who spends half his life crying over a dead wife's photograph?"
Gasps erupted from the audience. Several of Elena's own invited socialite friends dropped their champagne flutes, the crystal shattering on the stone.
"You played your part wonderfully," Elena continued, her eyes flashing with malice. "You built a billion-dollar empire, but you were too soft, too distracted by that brat of yours to protect it. Your board of directors was ready to oust you anyway; all I needed was your signature on the corporate asset consolidation form hidden at the bottom of the marriage contract. Once we were married, community property laws would have given me fifty percent control. And the child? She was simply a liability. A loose end that needed to be tied up."
Lily buried her face deeper into her father's tuxedo, sobbing quietly. "Daddy, let's go home. I'm scared."
Lucas didn't look at the crowd. He didn't look at the cameras flashing from the gossip bloggers who had managed to sneak past security. He looked only at Elena, his expression completely blank, devoid of humanity.
"You think you won," Lucas said softly.
"I did win," Elena laughed, a sharp, brittle sound. She reached into her bouquet, pulling out a small remote device. "And just in case you think you can call your security team, look around, Lucas. Your head of security is currently tied up in the catering truck, and every single guard at this gate is on my payroll. The police won't arrive for at least forty minutes, because I jammed the local cell towers within a five-mile radius the moment the ceremony started."
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She pressed a button on the remote.
Instantly, the heavy iron security gates at the entrance of The Grandview Estate slammed shut with a resounding mechanical thud, locking from the outside. The estate was completely sealed off from the outside world.
