CHAPTER 3 — THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
The projector descended from the ballroom ceiling.
A giant screen lit up.
Vanessa frowned.
"Ethan... what are you doing?"
He didn't answer.
His lawyer connected a tablet.
The first recording appeared.
Vanessa sat inside a private restaurant only five days after Ethan's accident.
Across from her sat Gregory Walsh—Ethan's rival CEO.
Vanessa's voice echoed through the ballroom.
"If Ethan never walks again..."
"...how soon can we replace him as chairman?"
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
The second recording began.
Vanessa laughed.
"I'll stay engaged until I secure enough voting shares."
"After that..."
"...I'll leave him."
Someone whispered,
"My God..."
A third recording.
This time Ethan's cousin.
"If the cripple signs the transfer papers, we'll own half the company."
Then another.
And another.
Months of hidden cameras.
Private investigators.
Financial records.
Phone calls.
Every betrayal.
Every lie.
Every conspiracy.
Every smile they had worn tonight.
Vanessa's face turned ghost-white.
"You were spying on me!"
Ethan remained perfectly calm.
"I was protecting my family."
"No."
He corrected himself.
"My company."
Security guards quietly entered the ballroom.
Ethan looked toward his head of security.
"Escort everyone whose name appears in the report."
"No exceptions."
Vanessa grabbed Ethan's arm.
"You can't do this!"
He gently removed her hand.
"I already have."
Within minutes the guests who had mocked him were being escorted out in silence.
Some begged.
Some apologized.
Some threatened lawsuits.
Ethan ignored every one of them.
Only one person remained beside him.
May you like
Clara.
Still standing quietly near the wheelchair she had refused to abandon.
