Rosa pushed through the crowd of wealthy guests. Her chest heaved as she stopped at the edge of the spotlight. She lowered the silver tray.
Laying in the center of the polished metal was a single, antique emerald earring surrounded by crushed diamonds.
Meredith dropped Amanda's wrist. She snatched the earring from the tray and held it up next to the one she had just ripped from Amanda's hand. They were an exact match.
"Where did you find this?" Meredith demanded.
Rosa caught her breath. "The maid was cleaning Miss Billie's room. She found it wedged behind Miss Billie's vanity mirror. It was never stolen."
The words hit the room like a physical shockwave. The theft was a lie.
On the stage, Billie gasped loudly. She slapped both hands over her mouth. She dropped the microphone and ran down the stairs. She rushed over to Amanda. Her eyes were wide, and fresh tears spilled down her cheeks.
"Oh my god," Billie cried. She reached out and grabbed Amanda's cold hands. "Amanda, I am so sorry! I must have misplaced them when I was trying them on. It was an accident. Please forgive me."
The crowd immediately softened. Whispers of "poor Billie" and "an honest mistake" rippled through the room.
Amanda looked down at Billie's hands holding hers. She felt absolutely nothing.
Julio let out a loud, triumphant scoff. He tightened his grip on Seraphina.
"See?" Julio said loudly. He glared at Amanda. "It was just an honest mistake! Billie misplaced them. And yet you brought this fake witch hunt down here and nearly ruined the entire party! You are always so dramatic and mentally unstable over nothing. You owe everyone an apology for your psychotic behavior!"
Seraphina peeked out from under Julio's jacket. She looked at Amanda. A tiny, vicious smirk flashed across Seraphina's lips before she hid her face again.
Amanda stared at the smirk. She stared at Billie's fake tears. She stared at Julio's arrogant face.
They had set her up. They had planned to humiliate her, and even when the truth came out, they still demanded she bleed for them.
The numbness in Amanda's chest shattered. A violent, reckless energy surged through her veins. Her stomach pain vanished entirely, replaced by pure adrenaline.
Amanda violently ripped her hands out of Billie's grip. She pushed Billie backward. Billie stumbled in her heavy dress and let out a shocked cry.
Amanda reached into her coat pocket. She pulled out her phone.
She did not look at anyone. She walked straight toward the small soundboard set up near the edge of the stage for the string quartet. The musicians were staring at the drama, completely ignoring their equipment. Amanda reached out, grabbed the auxiliary cable plugged into the main mixer, and shoved it directly into her phone's headphone jack.
She opened her voice memos. She pressed play.
The audio blasted through the massive speakers mounted in the corners of the ballroom.
"Julio," Seraphina's whiny, high-pitched voice echoed off the crystal chandelier. "Some girls just bullied me in the hallway. They were so mean. Come find me, please."
The crowd froze.
"Okay, I am coming back in," the recording finished.
Everyone turned their heads and stared at Seraphina. The helpless victim act was instantly destroyed by the sound of her calculating voice.
Amanda did not stop. She opened her photo gallery. She selected the picture Jeanette had sent her-the photo of Julio's hand wrapped tightly around Seraphina's waist at the private club.
She tapped the share button. She did not use AirDrop. Instead, she opened a group message containing the contacts of three notorious society gossip bloggers she had spotted near the champagne pyramid earlier. She hit send. A second later, a chorus of digital pings erupted from the back of the room. One of the bloggers gasped loudly, practically shoving her phone into the face of a wealthy socialite next to her. The picture spread like a digital wildfire. Within seconds, dozens of phones vibrated at the exact same time.
Guests pulled their phones from their pockets and purses. They looked at the screens. The sharp intake of breath from a hundred people sucked the oxygen out of the room.
Julio's face turned the color of ash. He looked around at the staring crowd. He realized what had just happened.
He ripped his arm away from Seraphina. He shoved her away from him like she was on fire. Seraphina stumbled and fell to her knees. She reached out for the guests, but the socialites stepped backward, looking at her with pure disgust.
Amanda stood in the center of the chaos. The heavy weight that had been crushing her for three years was gone. She smiled. It was a massive, genuine, terrifying smile.
She reached over and grabbed the microphone Billie had dropped on the floor.
"Since you love putting on a show," Amanda said into the mic, her voice echoing over the whispers, "I decided to host the premiere of your affair for the whole city."
The ballroom exploded into shouting.
