Chapter 16 - THE GROOM BREAKS OUT OF PRISON WITH ONE MISSION: DESTROY THE HEIR ON HER BIRTHDAY!
Three weeks passed. The high-society storms seemed to settle as Vance Global Holdings prepared for its grandest night of the decade: the official 23rd Birthday Gala for Maya Vance, and the formal adoption ceremony for Chloe, who was now legally and officially taking the Vance name by choice, not by blood.
The central ballroom of the Vance Palace was decorated with white roses and massive ice sculptures. Hundreds of global leaders, diplomats, and tech titans gathered to pay homage to Eleanor and her two heroic daughters.
Chloe, wearing an elegant emerald green gown, stood beside Maya, who looked dazzling in ivory silk.
"You look like a real Chairwoman," Chloe teased gently, clinking her champagne glass against Maya’s.
"We are doing this together," Maya reminded her with a warm smile. "Dual CEOs. That’s how we rewrite the Vance legacy."
Suddenly, the lights across the massive ballroom flickered violently and died, plunging the entire hall into pitch-black darkness!
Screams echoed through the darkness as emergency backup generators kicked in, flooding the room with eerie crimson emergency light.
BANG!
A security guard at the grand entrance collapsed onto the marble floor. Standing in the doorway, clad in a ragged, rain-soaked trench coat over stolen prison garb, was Julian Mercer!
His face was gaunt, his eyes sunken and wildly unhinged. In his right hand, he held a heavy tactical firearm.
"Happy Birthday, Maya!" Julian shrieked, his voice laced with absolute insanity as he raised the weapon. "You took my money! You took my future! You put me in a cage!"
Guests screamed in terror, throwing themselves onto the floor, trampling over tables and chairs to escape.
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"Julian! Put the gun down!" Eleanor shouted, stepping boldly in front of her daughters, her security detail rushing forward.
"Stay back!" Julian roared, pulling a remote detonator from his pocket with his left hand. "I have three pounds of plastic explosives wired to the main structural pillars of this ballroom! If anyone takes a single step, I blow this entire building into dust!"
