Chapter 61
No.1
The morning sun beat down on the Belmont Resort's sprawling stone terrace, baking the leftover smell of spilled champagne and expensive citrus perfume into the air. The post-gala brunch was winding down,the wealthy guests slowly dispersing toward the valet stands.
Elisa stepped onto the sun-drenched marble. She had already packed her bags. She was onlyreturning to this specific terrace for one reason, a final, critical piece of her exit strategy. Tucked inside the lining of a custom dark grey shawl she'd intentionally left draped over a chair the night before was a micro-SD card, no bigger than her pinky nail. It contained the only untraceable, offline backup of the payload she'd embedded in the Aethel servers. It was her insurance policy, her doomsday switch, and she would not leave without it.
She spotted the fabric resting on a wrought-iron seat near the edge of the patio. She walked toward it,her face a mask of absolute, exhausted indifference.
Before her fingers could brush the wool, a figure stepped directly into her path.
It was Allena.
She was holding a half-empty mimosa glass. She wore a pristine white sundress that contrasted sharply with the heavy medical boot still strapped to her right foot. She stood intentionally blocking the narrow walkway leading to the exit, her eyes gleaming with a toxic, provocative light.
Allena leaned in, lowering her voice so only Elisa could hear.
"You looked pathetic last night," Allena whispered,her tone dripping with vicious mockery. "Standing in the dark like a ghost while everyone celebrated me.August didn't even look at you. You are completely invisible."
Elisa stopped. She didn't clench her fists. She didn't frown.
No.2
She looked at Allena's face. She looked at the smug,triumphant smile of a woman who had built her entire existence on stolen achievements and stolen men.Elisa looked at her exactly the way a scientist looks at
a defective, slightly disgusting insect.
Elisa didn't say a single word. She simply stepped to the side and walked straight past her.
That absolute, silent dismissal hit Allena harder than a physical slap. It instantly punctured her inflated,fragile ego.
"Don't you walk away from me!" Allena hissed.
She reached out and grabbed the sleeve of Elisa's black athletic jacket. Her manicured nails dug sharply into the fabric.
Elisa's survival instincts flared. She didn't hesitate.She coldly and sharply yanked her arm forward,shaking off Allena's grip.
The physical force Elisa used was incredibly precise.It was just enough to break the hold, absolutely not enough to cause a grown woman to lose her balance.
But Allena didn't try to keep her balance.
No.3
Allena let out a sudden, blood-curdling, theatrical scream. She threw her arms up, her body going entirely limp, and pitched herself backward like a broken kite caught in a downdraft.
She tumbled backward down the three shallow marble steps leading to the lower garden.
It was a spectacularly exaggerated fall. Allena rolled over the hard stone. The delicate crystal mimosa glass in her hand shattered violently against the marble.
Sharp shards of glass exploded outward. One jagged piece sliced directly into Allena's bare left calf.
Bright red blood instantly welled up, spilling down her pale skin and staining the pristine white marble.The visual was shocking.
"Help!" Allena shrieked, clutching her bleeding leg,tears instantly flooding her eyes. "Oh my god,it hurts!"
The piercing screams acted like a siren. The ambient chatter on the terrace died instantly. Dozens of wealthy socialites and investors turned their heads,their eyes widening in horror. The crowd surged forward like a tidal wave.
Devon Browning was the first to break through the line of people.
He saw Allena-the woman he worshipped as the savior of his billionaire investor-lying in a pool of her own blood at the bottom of the stairs.
No.4
Devon's eyes went completely, violently red.
He let out a roar of pure, unhinged rage. He charged up the three marble steps like a wild animal.He didn't ask questions. He didn't pause. He lunged at Elisa and shoved her backward with both of his massive hands.
The sheer, brutal force of a man twice her size lifting her off her feet was unstoppable.
Elisa flew backward. Her lower back slammed violently into the hard, unyielding edge of a Roman stone pillar.
A sickening crack echoed in her own ears. A massive,blinding wave of agony exploded from her spine,shooting down her legs and up into her skull. Her vision went entirely black for a fraction of a second.The air was violently punched out of her lungs. The impact was so jarring that her athletic jacket rode up her back for a split second, revealing a flash of pale skin to a resort security guard standing only a few
feet away before the fabric fell back into place.
She siumped forward, a harsh, involuntary grunt tearing from her throat as she caught herself on her hands and knees.
"You vicious, psychotic bitch!" Devon screamed,pointing a shaking finger directly at Elisa's face. "You pushed her! You actually pushed her down the stairs!"
The surrounding socialites gasped. Women covered their mouths in exaggerated horror. Their eyes darted to Elisa, filled with absolute, piercing condemnation. They looked at her like she was a monster.③
No.5
"August! Let me through!" a deep, panicked voice roared from the back of the crowd.
August shoved two men aside, his face dark and frantic. He broke into the clearing and saw the blood on the marble.
"August!" Allena sobbed, her voice trembling perfectly. She reached her bloody hand out toward him."It hurts so much. I just wanted to say good morning to her... I didn't mean to upset her..."
August's heart violently contracted. He dropped to one knee on the hard stone, completely ignoring the blood soaking into his expensive trousers. He gathered Allena into his arms with a terrifying, fragile care, pressing her face into his chest.
He slowly lifted his head.
His dark eyes locked onto Elisa. She was just managing to stand up, her face pale, one hand pressing desperately against her throbbing lower back.
August's gaze was a pair of freezing, lethal swords.
"I didn't push her," Elisa said. Her voice was strained from the pain, but the tone was absolute ice."She threw herself down the stairs."
August let out a harsh, incredibly cruel laugh.
No.6
"She threw herself down?" August sneered, his voice booming over the silent crowd. "Look at her leg,Elisa! Your pathetic, desperate jealousy has finally made you lose your mind. You are sick."①
The words hit the air like a gavel slamming down in a courtroom.
August Chambers, the billionaire patriarch, had just publicly and definitively cemented his legal wife's guilt.
The crowd immediately erupted into vicious whispers.
"I knew she was crazy."
"She's just a jealous homewrecker trying to kill the real girlfriend."
"Someone call the police."
Elisa stood against the stone pillar. She looked at August. She looked at the man she had married, the man who was currently cradling a pathological liar while his own wife stood battered and bruised against a wall.
A thick, heavy wave of physiological nausea rolled through Elisa's stomach. The urge to vomit was so strong she had to swallow hard against the acid rising in her throat.
No.7
She didn't shed a single tear. Tears were for people who still had hope.
Elisa slowly lifted her right hand. She ignored the
crowd. She ignored Devon. She pointed a single,steady finger toward the upper corner of the resort's stucco wall, completely hidden behind a hanging fern.
"There is a security camera right there," Elisa said.Her voice wasn't loud, but it cut through the murmurs with razor-sharp clarity. "Since you all want to play judge and jury, let the footage speak."
The word 'camera' acted like a physical electric shock.
In August's arms, Allena's body went completely,rigidly stiff. A flash of pure, unadulterated panic ripped through her tear-filled eyes. She tried to bury her face deeper into his shirt to hide it.
Devon immediately jumped forward, his chest puffed out. "Good! The camera will show exactly what you did! We are pulling that footage right now. You are not leaving this estate, Elisa!"
August stood up, lifting Allena effortlessly into his arms. He looked down at Elisa with the ultimate,arrogant posture of a dictator passing a death sentence.
"Bring the estate manager to the security room,"August ordered coldly, not looking away from Elisa."Pull the footage immediately. I am going to make you watch it, Elisa. I want you to lose with absolutely zero excuses."