Chapter 5 - The Royal RevelationLord Richard staggered backward, gripping the edge of the VIP table as if he were looking a ghost straight in the eye.
“Amelia?” Richard whispered, his voice trembling with superstitious terror. “No... Amelia died in the fire twenty-five years ago.”
“Amelia was my mother,” I replied, my voice carrying clearly across the silent, packed ballroom. “And unlike what your assassins planned, she managed to escape your burning palace with her child—and the royal signet.”
A collective gasp swept through the crowd. Whispers erupted like wildfire among the high-society guests, many of whom recognized the ancient insignia of the House of Aveline.
Celeste’s face turned an ugly shade of mottled red. “Lies! She’s a delusional baker! A common fraud trying to extort our family!”
“Extort?” A deep, resonant voice echoed from the grand double doors at the entrance of the ballroom.
Thomas Wycliffe stepped into the light, flanked by two uniformed international magistrates and a detachment of federal marshals. In Thomas’s hands was a heavy, leather-bound portfolio bearing the official seal of The Hague’s International Court of Justice.
“Not extortion, Lady Celeste,” Thomas announced, his voice ringing with absolute moral authority. “Restitution.”
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Lord Richard Ashbourne lunged toward the exit, but the federal marshals blocked his path instantly, snapping heavy steel handcuffs around his wrists.
“Lord Richard Ashbourne, you are formally placed under arrest for high treason, royal regicide, and international asset embezzlement,” the lead marshal announced loudly.
