Chapter 18 - The Echo of Deceit
Total chaos threatened to consume the ballroom, but Daniel wasn't finished.
He pulled out his phone and connected it to the ballroom’s massive, state-of-the-art audiovisual system, which we had commandeered an hour prior.
The large projection screens behind the altar, meant to display a slideshow of Grant and Celeste’s romantic vacations, suddenly flared to life. The clinic certification appeared on the massive screens, followed instantly by Celeste’s signed consent form.
Then, Daniel hit play on the audio file.
The high-quality speakers surrounding the ballroom amplified the recording.
“God, Marcus, you should see them. Grant is so desperate for a boy, he’s practically kissing the ground I walk on.”
The sound of Celeste’s cruel, mocking laughter echoed through the cavernous room, bouncing off the crystal chandeliers.
“Once we marry, that old witch Vivian will make sure I control the family money. He never needs to know whose child it is. It’s too easy.”
The recording ended, leaving a deafening, suffocating silence in its wake.
Grant staggered backward as if he had been physically struck. He looked at Celeste with an expression of pure, unadulterated horror. “You… you used me?”
Celeste’s carefully constructed mask of the innocent, loving bride shattered entirely into a vicious sneer. “You used everyone, Grant! Don't act like a victim! You wanted a male heir so badly to impress your mother that you never even bothered to ask why a permanent vasectomy suddenly failed!”
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A collective gasp echoed through the crowd. The secret was out.
Vivian, trembling with rage, lunged forward and slapped Celeste across the face. The sharp crack echoed loudly. Celeste shrieked, shoving the older woman backward. Vivian stumbled, crashing into a massive, towering floral arrangement, sending hundreds of white roses scattering wildly across the silk aisle.
