The silk handkerchief flutters to the marble floor.
Devyn stares at it, his chest heaving. The humiliation burns his skin. He can feel the eyes of every major investor, every rival family, burning into his back. His face twists into an ugly sneer.
He lunges forward again, aiming to grab Jeannette's wrist and drag her out the side door. "Stop making a scene, you crazy bitch," he mutters under his breath.
Jeannette anticipates the move. She steps back quickly on her stilettos, twisting her body to avoid his grasp. "Don't touch me with the same hands you use to grope her," she snaps, her voice dripping with venom.
Devyn misses. He stumbles slightly, looking foolish. Before he can recover, Jeannette reaches into her black clutch.
She pulls out a small, square velvet box.
She doesn't open it. She simply throws it as hard as she can directly at Devyn's chest. The box hits him with a solid thud and bounces off, hitting the floor. The hinge snaps open.
A massive, flawless five-carat diamond ring rolls out onto the polished marble.
The sound of the diamond scratching against the stone is deafening in the silent room. Everyone stops breathing.
Jeannette lifts her chin, her eyes sweeping over the crowd. She takes a deep breath, filling her lungs, and projects her voice so the entire room can hear.
"The engagement between the Beaumont-Buck family and the Langley family is hereby terminated. Effective immediately."
The ballroom erupts. Gasps, whispers, and the frantic clicking of camera shutters fill the air. The press, trapped inside the room by Kian's men, go wild.
Devyn stares at the ring on the floor, his mouth opening and closing like a dying fish. He cannot comprehend that she just publicly dumped him.
"How dare you!"
A shrill, furious scream rips through the crowd. Cynthia Langley, Devyn's mother, shoves her way to the front. She is wearing a heavy emerald-green gown, her face flushed dark red with rage. The massive emerald necklace around her throat bounces wildly as she breathes.
Cynthia marches right up to Jeannette and points a shaking finger in her face. "You ungrateful, classless little tramp! How dare you come into my house and cause a scene!"
Jeannette's spine stiffens. She doesn't back down an inch. "Ask your son why he can't keep his pants zipped, Cynthia."
The disrespect makes Cynthia's eyes bulge. She decides to use the only weapon she has: class warfare.
"You are nothing!" Cynthia screams, her voice echoing off the walls. "The Beaumont family went bankrupt twenty-five years ago! You are a charity case! A beggar! If my family hadn't taken pity on you and offered this marriage, you wouldn't even be allowed to scrub the floors in this hotel!"
A few of the newer, desperate families in the crowd chuckle nervously, trying to align themselves with the powerful Langley matriarch.
Devyn, emboldened by his mother, steps forward. He straightens his tie. "Apologize right now, Jeannette. Get on your knees and pick up that ring, and maybe I'll forgive this hysterical outburst."
Zara peeks out from behind Devyn, a smug, victorious smirk playing on her lips.
At the VIP table, the air around Kian Koch drops to absolute zero. Mickey, his bodyguard, instinctively reaches for the gun holstered under his jacket. Kian's jaw is locked so tight a muscle ticks violently in his cheek. He wants to burn the Langley family to the ground right now. But he waits. He watches Jeannette.
Jeannette doesn't cry. She doesn't break.
Instead, a low, dark laugh escapes her throat.
She steps forward, invading Cynthia's personal space. The sheer force of Jeannette's aura makes the older woman flinch.
"Pity?" Jeannette sneers. "The Langley family is nothing but a pack of vultures. Don't pretend you were saints. My family has always suspected your 'help' was nothing more than vulture-like opportunism. You circled us like sharks the moment you smelled blood in the water. You manipulated the narrative, capitalized on my grandfather's sudden heart attack, and swooped in to steal the spotlight while we were grieving. You are new money trash wearing stolen jewels."
Cynthia gasps. The truth hits too close to home. Blinded by rage, she raises her hand, aiming a vicious slap right at Jeannette's face.
Jeannette's eyes flash. Her hand shoots up like lightning. She catches Cynthia's wrist mid-air. Her fingers dig into the older woman's skin with bone-crushing force. Cynthia cries out in pain.
Jeannette violently shoves Cynthia's arm away.
"You care so much about your family's image?" Jeannette asks, her voice dropping to a terrifying calm. She pulls her phone out of her clutch. "Let's show everyone who you really are."
Her thumb hovers over a large red button on her screen-the trigger for the hacking software connected to the ballroom's main Bluetooth receiver.
She looks Devyn dead in the eyes. She smiles.
And she presses enter.
