Chapter 4 - The Predator's Checkmate
Preston gripped the podium until his knuckles turned bone-white. Sweat beaded along his hairline. "Mr. Moretti... this is a private family announcement. Alexandra was just leaving."
"Miss Sterling isn't going anywhere," Dante replied, his voice silky, cool, and loaded with unspoken violence. He slid his arm around Alex's waist, pulling her flush against his side. The warmth of his body was overwhelming, an impenetrable fortress against the room's hostility. "In fact, she is with me."
A collective gasp swept through Manhattan’s elite.
Phones were already out, recording the most scandalous social takedown of the decade. Sabrina turned a venomous glare toward Alex. "You pathetic little clerk. You think parading around with hired muscle will save you? My father will have you blacklisted from every auction house on the planet by tomorrow morning!"
"Your father might want to check his offshore liquidity first," Alex spoke up, her voice clear, bell-like, and carrying undeniable authority. She looked straight at Preston, whose eyes were wild with terror. "And Preston... you might want to check the encryption on the Roman antiquities manifest you uploaded at four o'clock today."
Preston flinched as if struck across the face. "You... you don't know what you're talking about."
"She knows everything," Dante cut in, his eyes narrowing into cold slits. "And so do my attorneys. And so does the Department of Justice."
Dante raised two fingers. From the back of the room, three men in dark suits stepped forward, displaying federal badges to Arthur Kensington.
"Arthur Kensington, Preston Vance," the lead agent declared loudly. "We have a court order freezing all transaction accounts tied to Kensington Capital's private offshore holdings pending an audit of forged provenance documents."
Pandemonium erupted.
Reporters pushed forward, flashes firing like strobe lights. Sabrina shrieked as socialites backed away from them as if they were infected with the plague. Arthur Kensington looked on the verge of a stroke, clutching his chest as he glared at Preston.
"What did you do?!" Kensington roared at Preston. "You idiot, what did you do?!"
Preston stumbled backward, staring at Alex in utter horror. He realized, in one blinding second, that the woman he had treated as a disposable pawn had just detonated his entire life in front of five hundred of the most influential people in the country.
Alex felt a fierce, burning triumph rise in her chest. For three years, she had been silent, accommodating, and self-effacing. Never again.
Dante looked down at her, a rare, wicked smile curving his lips. "Satisfied, Miss Sterling?"
"Not yet," Alex whispered, looking up into his dark eyes. "This is just the first move."
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"Good," Dante murmured, his hand tightening at her waist as he turned her away from the chaos. "Because the night is just beginning."
He led her effortlessly through the frantic crowd toward the private VIP exit, leaving Preston Vance’s ruined world burning behind them.
