Chapter 5 - The ConfessionArthur Whitmore lunged forward, his face twisted in desperation and rage. "You psychotic lunatic! You think you can walk in here and threaten us? I’ll ruin you! I’ll—"
Before Arthur could finish his threat, my hand shot out with blinding, unnatural speed. I grabbed him by the lapels of his expensive Italian suit, hoisted him off his feet with one hand, and slammed him against the mahogany wall. The breath left his lungs in a violent wheeze, and the board members gasped, paralyzed by fear.
"Listen to me very carefully," I whispered, my face inches from his terrified eyes. "Your money is frozen. Your political allies are in handcuffs or running for the hills. Your legacy is being incinerated on live television. But none of that matters compared to what your son did to my daughter."
I turned my cold gaze toward Tyler, who had fallen backward over a chair, scrambling away from me like a frightened animal.
"Please," Tyler whimpered, tears streaming down his face, completely stripped of his arrogant bravado. "Please don't kill me! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to break her jaw! It was just a joke—we were just having fun!"
A joke.
The words echoed in my mind, fueling the furnace of my wrath. I let go of Arthur, who slumped to the floor, gasping for air, and walked slowly toward Tyler. Every step I took felt like a death knell.
"Stand up," I ordered.
Tyler shook his head frantically, sobbing. "I can't... please..."
I grabbed him by the collar, hauled him to his feet effortlessly, and threw him across the length of the boardroom. He crashed into a display shelf, shattering glass awards and trophies everywhere.
"You're going to pull out your phone right now," I said, pulling my encrypted burner device from my pocket and dropping it onto the conference table in front of Arthur. "You are going to record a full, unedited confession detailing every single detail of the assault, who ordered the cover-up, and how you bribed the investigators. You are going to upload it to every public social media channel you own."
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Arthur, struggling to his feet, glared at me with pure venom. "You'll never get away with this. Even if we confess on video, our lawyers will tear it apart in court on grounds of duress!"
I smiled—a cold, humorless expression that didn't reach my eyes. "Court? Who said anything about court, Arthur?"
