Chapter 2 - THE RECORDING EVERYONE HEARD
The ballroom speakers crackled.
Then Daniel’s voice filled the room.
“You and that child humiliated me.”
Lucy buried her face against Nora.
The recording continued.
“You both deserved it.”
No one moved.
The words sounded even colder when separated from the chaos.
Charles looked at the technician.
“Play the previous three minutes.”
Daniel stepped toward the sound booth.
“No.”
Charles’s guards blocked him.
The recording began with music and quiet conversation.
Then Celeste’s voice became audible near a wireless microphone hidden inside the floral centerpiece.
“Move the girl closer.”
Another woman answered.
“She is already beside the desserts.”
Celeste said,
“Good.”
“If she spills something, Nora will lose control.”
Nora stared at her.
The recording continued.
The sound of glass breaking filled the speakers.
Then came the slap.
Lucy’s cry.
Nora’s scream.
Daniel’s voice followed.
“You just assaulted her.”
Charles turned toward Celeste.
“You planned this.”
Celeste’s face lost its color.
“That conversation was about something else.”
The technician raised one hand.
“There is security footage too.”
A large presentation screen lowered above the ballroom stage.
The video showed Lucy standing beside the dessert table.
There was more than six feet of empty space behind Celeste.
Celeste changed direction deliberately.
She struck Lucy with her hip and shoulder.
The glass fell.
Then she slapped the child.
Several guests gasped despite having witnessed the incident in person.
The camera angle showed what shock had prevented many of them from understanding.
It had not been an accident.
Celeste had created the spill.
The next part showed Nora pushing Celeste away.
Then Daniel seized Nora’s wrist and threw her across the floor.
Charles watched the entire recording.
His expression never changed.
When it ended, he looked toward the uniformed officers stationed outside the ballroom for event security.
“Call your supervisor.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“This is a family disagreement.”
Officer Marissa Cole looked at Lucy’s bleeding mouth.
“No, Mr. Hale.”
“This is an assault investigation.”
Celeste raised her voice.
“That child ruined a forty-thousand-dollar gown.”
Officer Cole stared at her.
“You may want to stop speaking.”
Nora tried to stand again.
Charles helped her carefully.
Daniel reached for Lucy.
“She is coming with me.”
The little girl flinched.
Charles moved between them.
“No one touches her without Nora’s permission.”
“I am her father.”
“Then you should have acted like one.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“You have always hated me.”
Charles looked around the ballroom Daniel had filled with investors, directors, and reporters.
“I tolerated you because Nora loved you.”
“That protection ended the moment you chose your mistress over your bleeding child.”
A silence followed.
Celeste looked at Daniel.
Several guests looked at her.
Nora finally understood why Celeste had been standing beside him with such confidence.
The affair was not a rumor.
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It was already known.
Daniel had brought his mistress to the gala where he planned to destroy his wife.
