Chapter 3 - The Ghost on the Screen
The glowing screen flashed rhythmically, casting an eerie blue light across Daniel’s rigid features. Victoria lunged forward with a desperate speed unbefitting a bride in a heavy lace gown, her manicured fingers clawing at the air.
“Don't answer that!” Victoria screamed, her voice cracking with absolute terror as she lunged toward the phone.
Daniel sidestepped her smoothly, holding the device high out of her reach while keeping Sophia safely tucked against his side. With a single, decisive swipe of his thumb, Daniel accepted the video call. The front-facing camera flickered, loading a connection from a dimly lit office lined with mahogany bookshelves and towering floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the glittering Manhattan skyline.
A sharp, authoritative voice echoed from the small speaker, filling the silent ballroom.
“Victoria, report. Is the corporate merger finalized? Do we have access to the Sterling accounts?”
The man on the screen was middle-aged, impeccably groomed in a charcoal suit, wearing wire-rimmed glasses that glinted under his desk lamp. He stared out of the display, completely unaware that he was broadcasting live to a room full of wedding guests and a devastated groom.
Daniel stared at the screen, his voice trembling with a mixture of heartbreak and cold fury.
“She hasn't finalized anything. And she won't be,” Daniel said into the microphone.
The man on the screen froze, his eyes narrowing as he leaned closer to his camera. A slow, calculating smile spread across the stranger's face.
“Ah. The groom. How tragically predictable. Victoria, I told you to eliminate loose ends,” the man said smoothly before abruptly cutting the feed.
The screen went black, leaving the ballroom in a suffocating hush. Daniel lowered his hand, his gaze locking onto the woman he had planned to spend the rest of his life with. Victoria stood trembling, her shoulders slumped, the formidable mask completely gone.
“You were never an interior designer, were you?” Daniel whispered.
Victoria looked up, tears finally spilling over her lashes, and whispered back a chilling confession.
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“I was sent to destroy your family, Daniel. And they won't stop with me.”
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