Chapter 7 - Taking Back What Is Mine
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The silence that followed the immediate shock was heavy, suffocating, and dripping with judgment. Every single eye in the Grand Palmer Hotel shifted from the frozen, humiliated figures on the stage directly to me.
I didn't shrink away. The paralyzing shock that had anchored me to my chair was gone, entirely burned away by a sudden, white-hot inferno of rage. I stood up. The scraping of my chair sounded like a gunshot.
I didn't run out of the room in tears. I squared my shoulders, lifted my chin, and began to walk.
The crowd literally parted for me. Wealthy bankers and powerful architects stepped aside, their expressions a mix of profound pity and absolute awe. The silence was so profound that the only sound in the room was the rhythmic, sharp clicking of my heels against the marble floor.
I walked up the three steps to the stage. Daniel took a panicked step toward me, his hands raised in a pathetic gesture of surrender.
“Sarah, please,” he begged, his voice cracking, the microphone picking up his desperate whispers. “It’s a mistake. I can explain. It’s out of context.”
I didn't even look at him. I walked right past him, stepping directly into Lauren’s personal space.
Lauren backed up, her eyes wide with terror, her back hitting the podium. She was trembling violently, her hands coming up to protect her face as if she expected me to strike her.
“Take them off,” I said. My voice wasn't loud, but it carried a deadly, absolute authority that made her flinch.
“I... I didn't know,” Lauren stammered, tears ruining her expensive makeup, leaving black streaks down her cheeks. “He told me he bought them at an estate sale. I swear I didn't know they were your mother's!”
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“Take them off,” I repeated, my tone dropping to a lethal whisper. “Or I will rip them off your neck myself.”
Lauren’s trembling hands fumbled frantically with the golden clasp. She couldn't get it open. With a frustrated, disgusted sigh, I reached forward, brushing her shaking hands away. I unclasped the pearls smoothly, pulling the necklace away from her skin. The moment the pearls were safely in my hand, I turned my back on her.
