Chapter 5 — The Public Fall
Victor waited until the reporters were pushed back.
He waited until the quartet started playing again. Until the foundation board surrounded him with nervous smiles. Until the guests pretended the strange moment onstage had been nothing.
Then he led Claire away from the microphones.
To outsiders, it looked like a husband guiding his wife to a private conversation.
Claire knew better.
“Victor,” she said, pulling her arm free. “Not here.”
His eyes flashed.
“That was the point, wasn’t it?” he said. “You wanted everyone to look at us.”
“You gave them something to see.”
He smiled, but his jaw was tight.
“You think one little sentence will change anything?”
“No,” Claire said. “But the truth will.”
Victor stared at her.
“What truth?”
For the first time in years, Claire did not look away.
“Samuel Hart’s files. The forged debt papers. Elias Stone. The reason you married me.”
Victor’s face went still.
It was enough.
Claire knew.
He had done it.
All of it.
“You foolish woman,” he said under his breath.
Nora tried to push through the crowd.
“Claire!”
Victor turned sharply.
“Keep her away,” he ordered the security men.
Claire stepped back.
“You can’t control everyone forever.”
Victor’s expression twisted.
“I don’t need forever. I only need tonight.”
Then he lifted his hand.
The room saw it.
Maybe some people gasped before it happened. Maybe someone said his name. Maybe Nora screamed.
Claire only remembered the impact, the marble beneath her, and the sudden silence after the music died.
Victor stood above her.
And laughed.
May you like
“You deserved that.”
That was when the doors burst open.
