Chapter 6 - Expelled
"And as for you two," Arthur Vance said, turning his freezing gaze from Dominic to Eleanor and Chloe.
He didn't need to raise his voice; the sheer authority radiating from him commanded absolute attention.
"Security," Arthur called out.
Four burly men in tactical black suits materialized from the shadows near the ballroom exits. They didn't wait for permission. Two of them grabbed Chloe by her jeweled tulle arms, lifting her slightly off the floor as she shrieked in absolute fury and disbelief.
"Let me go! Do you know who I am? My father-in-law—my family will sue you into oblivion! Let go of my dress!" Chloe screamed, kicking her designer heels frantically in the air as her pristine white wedding gown dragged across the spilled champagne and broken glass on the floor.
"Your father-in-law is currently reviving his son with smelling salts on a folding chair," Richard remarked dryly as Eleanor was bodily hoisted up by the second pair of guards.
Eleanor thrashed wildly, her face purple with rage and humiliation. "You can't do this! This is kidnapping! Vivienne, you ungrateful little beast, call them off!"
I watched them impassively, resting a protective hand over my swollen belly. "When you ripped my dress and ordered me searched in front of two hundred people, Eleanor, you forgot one very important rule of high society."
I leaned in slightly, letting my voice carry across the silent hall.
"Never pick a fight with someone whose father owns the building."
With a swift, unceremonious heave, the security guards hauled Chloe and Eleanor backward down the grand hallway, their shrieks and curses echoing fadingly into the distance until the heavy mahogany doors slammed shut with a definitive, bone-racking thud.
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The ballroom was left in a state of stunned, breathless paralysis.
Not a single guest moved. The photographers kept their cameras lowered to the floor. The servers stood frozen against the walls like statues. Everyone was terrified that if they breathed too loudly, Arthur Vance's wrath would turn upon them next.
