Chapter 2 - The Digital ScourgeBack in the main dining room, the atmosphere had returned to a high-energy hum of elite self-satisfaction. Tiffany Monroe was staring at her phone screen with glowing eyes, her fingers flying across the keyboard as heart emojis and laughing reactions cascaded upward.
"Guys, look at this," Tiffany squealed to her tablemates. "The clip is already at fifty thousand views! Someone cross-posted it to TikTok under #WaitressTakedown. We're going viral!"
Brandon Pierce smirked, swirling his expensive Barolo. "I told you, Tiff. People love high-tier content. That woman was begging for a reality check anyway. Walking around looking like a sad ghost in an apron. If her husband's so tough, let him come down here and pay my bar tab."
Just then, a strange sound rippled through the restaurant. It wasn't music or chatter. It was the synchronized ping of dozens of smartphones going off simultaneously.
At table four, a corporate lawyer checked his screen and frowned.
At table twelve, a local real estate investor went completely pale.
Tiffany’s phone suddenly froze. The live-stream app stuttered, spun a loading wheel for three seconds, and then flashed a stark, bright red error notification: ACCOUNT SUSPENDED DUE TO VIOLATION OF COMMUNITY STANDARDS.
"What?" Tiffany tapped her screen frantically. "No, no, no. My followers! My engagement!"
At that exact moment, the restaurant manager, a pompous man named Mr. Salvatore, burst out of his back office with a phone clutched to his ear, his face the color of spoiled milk.
"Mr. Pierce!" Salvatore gasped, running straight toward Brandon’s table. "Mr. Pierce, you need to call your father immediately!"
Brandon laughed lazily. "Salvatore, calm down. What is it? Did the wine shipments get delayed?"
"The bank!" Salvatore stammered, his hands shaking violently. "All of them! First National, Harbor Trust, Metro Federal! They’ve just frozen every corporate line of credit associated with Pierce Enterprises and Bellissimo Trattoria! My accounts are locked! Your father's accounts are locked! The city health inspector just called—they’re shutting us down for structural code violations effective immediately!"
Silence dropped over the room like a lead weight.
Brandon stood up so fast his chair crashed backward onto the floor. "That’s impossible! My father is on the city council advisory board! Who the hell has the authority to freeze our assets like that?"
May you like
Before Salvatore could answer, the heavy double doors of Bellissimo Trattoria swung open.
The restaurant chatter died completely. Not a single person dared to breathe.
