Chapter 7 - The Midnight Collapse
Jasper’s hand tightened painfully against my lower back. "Camille," he hissed under his breath. "What are you doing? Pick up the pen."
I stepped away from his grip, taking two steps toward the center podium microphone.
"Before I sign," I announced, my voice echoing clearly through the high-grade speakers across the entire ballroom, "I think everyone in this room deserves to see what I am actually signing away."
The crowd murmured with confusion. Reynolds stepped forward, his polished smile instantly cracking. "Camille, this isn't the time for speeches—"
"Turn on the main screen, please," I said calmly toward the AV booth at the back of the hall.
The giant digital projection screen behind the stage flickered.
Instead of the corporate promotional video Reynolds had prepared, a high-definition document flashed across the thirty-foot screen: The Forensic Audit of Donovan Manufacturing Shell Accounts.
Gasps erupted through the ballroom as bank ledgers showing Reynolds transferring millions to Jasper’s offshore accounts were displayed in massive black-and-white print.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Reynolds bellowed, turning toward the sound booth. "Turn that off!"
"Don't bother, Arthur," a loud, strong voice called out from the back of the room.
The heavy mahogany double doors of the ballroom swung wide open.
My father, Jackson Donovan, stepped into the hall. He wore a crisp gray suit, walking tall and erect without his cane, flanked by Sarah Vance and four uniformed officers from the State Police Major Crimes Unit.
"Dad!" I called out, a fierce smile breaking across my face.
The room erupted into total chaos. Journalists scrambled forward, camera flashes exploding like strobe lights.
"Jasper!" Reynolds screamed, pointing a shaking finger at my husband. "What did you do?!"
Jasper’s face had drained of every drop of color. The calm, controlling predator was gone, replaced by a terrified, cornered animal. He looked at the screen, then at my father, and finally at me.
"You..." Jasper rasped, stepping toward me with wild eyes. "You played me!"
"I learned from the best, Jasper," I said coldly.
Jasper lunged at me, his hands reaching for my neck in a blind rage—
BANG!
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A state trooper tackled Jasper hard onto the stage floor, pinning his arms behind his back and snapping steel handcuffs around his wrists before he could touch me.
"Jasper Vance, Arthur Reynolds," Detective Miller’s voice boomed over the room's speakers. "You are under arrest for grand larceny, wire fraud, corporate racketeering, and conspiracy to commit murder."
