Chapter 5 - The Gala's Grand Finale
The lead guard stepped forward, raising the heavy butt of his sidearm toward my chest.
I braced myself, calculating the exact second to lunge and take the impact, keeping Lily completely shielded behind my body.
Suddenly, the overhead security lights flickered and died.
A second later, the emergency backup generators roared to life, but instead of the normal white lights, every television monitor, digital display screen, and speaker system throughout the entire Lumis Hotel—from the basement server room all the way up to the glittering ballroom upstairs—suddenly synchronized.
A clear, crystal-clear audio recording began playing through the master speakers.
It was Vivien’s voice.
"Just make sure the dissenting doctors have accidents that look natural. If the state audits the pediatric fund, we lose everything. Do whatever it takes to bury them."
The recording echoed through the basement, and through the intercom feed, we could hear the collective gasps of nine hundred shocked guests echoing down from the ballroom above.
Vivien froze. The color drained entirely from her face.
"What... what is that?" she stammered, staring wildly at the ceiling speakers. "Turn that off! Turn that off right now!"
"You forgot one detail, Vivien," a calm, amplified voice spoke from the doorway behind the guards.
We turned to look.
Standing in the entrance was Leo, my brilliant tech specialist, flanked by a dozen uniformed federal agents and local police officers with their weapons drawn and pointed squarely at Vivien's mercenaries.
"While you were busy trying to corner us down here," Leo said, stepping forward with a triumphant grin, "I routed the live upload directly to the main ballroom's public address system. Every donor, every politician, and every reporter in this city just heard your confession."
The guards slowly lowered their weapons, looking around in utter panic as the federal agents swarmed the room, clicking heavy steel handcuffs around their wrists.
Two officers stepped up to Vivien. She opened her mouth to speak, to threaten them with her influence, but the words caught in her throat. Her knees seemed to buckle as the absolute weight of her crimes finally crashed down upon her.
"Vivien Ashworth Pell, you are under arrest for federal wire fraud, embezzlement, and conspiracy," the lead federal agent stated coldly, snapping the cuffs onto her wrists.
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As they dragged her past us, Vivien glared at Lily with pure venom. But my niece didn't shrink away. She stood tall, her head held high, looking the corrupt chairwoman straight in the eye without a trace of fear.
The nightmare was finally over.
