Chapter 3 - THE STEP INTO THE LIGHTI didn't wait for Richard to finish his speech.
I walked out from behind the velvet curtain, stepping directly onto the polished hardwood stage under the glare of the spotlights.
The movement caught Arthur Sterling’s eye first. His smile faltered, his jaw dropping an inch as he stared at the short-haired woman in the scarred combat jacket standing right beside him.
Richard kept talking for another second, his back half-turned, before he noticed the sudden, suffocating silence that had fallen over the three hundred guests in the ballroom.
The string quartet stopped playing mid-note. A waiter dropped a silver fork near table four, the metallic clatter ringing like a gunshot through the room.
Richard turned around, his eyes locking onto mine.
The color drained from his face so fast it looked like someone had pulled a plug in his veins. The crystal glass of whiskey slipped from his fingers, shattering against the stage floor, splashing amber liquid across his imported Italian leather shoes.
"M-Maren...?" Richard choked out, his voice a terrified, strangled squeak. "No... that's impossible. You... you died. The Pentagon confirmed the crash..."
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I walked slowly across the stage, stopping two feet away from my father. I didn't smile. I let the harsh overhead lights illuminate the jagged scar on my cheek and the hard, unyielding glare in my eyes.
"The Pentagon reported a missing bird, Richard," I said, my voice carrying clearly across every speaker in the room. "They didn't report a body. But I can see why you and Arthur were so eager to skip the DNA confirmation."
