Malik opened his mouth to throw another insult, but nothing came out. Without my father’s protection, he was smoke.
Then I looked into the shadows and found my mother.
Renee was clutching her bag against her chest like a shield, trembling.
“And you,” I said.
Her eyes widened.
“You are the worst of them all. My father is a monster, yes, but monsters act according to their nature. You are a coward. For thirty years you watched. You watched him beat me in the rain. You watched him lock me out. You watched him burn my letters. You watched me starving for the smallest scrap of affection, and what did you choose? Silence. Safety. Your Hermès bags. Your Jimmy Choo shoes. You sold your daughter for accessories.”
A strangled sob escaped her, but I knew those tears. They had always arrived when consequences finally reached her.
“You do not deserve to be called a mother,” I said. “Tonight, I am no longer your daughter. I am Captain Vaughn, and I am standing here not as your child, but as the executioner of your lies.”
That broke the spell.
Calvin snapped out of his stupor and exploded.
“Security!” he roared, face going a violent shade of red. “Get her out of here. She’s drunk. She’s insane. Drag this off my property.”
Two large men in black suits started running toward the stage from the perimeter.
I did not flinch.
I reached down, grabbed the thick dossier Uncle Vernon had placed on the podium, and slammed my palm onto it so hard the crack echoed across the ballroom.
“Nobody move,” I ordered.
It was not a request.
The force in my voice stopped the guards in their tracks ten feet from the stage.
Before anyone could recover, I lifted the dossier and held it high. The broken wax seal of Otis Vaughn still carried the full weight of the dead.
“The person standing on this podium is not an intruder,” I said, voice steady as steel. “According to the final will and testament of Otis Vaughn and the corporate bylaws of Vaughn Holdings, I am the only person with authority to issue orders here tonight.”
I stepped back.
Uncle Vernon stepped forward.
He no longer looked like a tired old lawyer. He looked like a shark in a charcoal suit. He opened the folder with terrifying precision and smoothed the yellowed pages flat.
