The crowd parted. It wasn't out of respect. It was the way a herd of gazelles separates when a predator enters the clearing-or perhaps, when a sick animal wanders into the healthy pack.
Belle didn't wait for Anya to reach the center. She detached herself from Bentley and moved forward, flanked by two women Anya vaguely recognized from prep school. They moved in a V-formation.
Before they could intercept her, a chime echoed through the ballroom. The lights dimmed slightly, and a spotlight found the stage where Alistair Everett, the family patriarch, stood behind a lectern. He was a lion in winter, his silver hair immaculate, his posture ramrod straight despite the tremor in his left hand he tried to hide.
"Thank you all for coming," Alistair's voice boomed, amplified by the speakers. "Tonight, we celebrate not just philanthropy, but the future. A future free from the ravages of neurodegenerative disease. Tonight, Everett Pharma is proud to announce a breakthrough..."
Anya stopped, her gaze fixed on the old man. This was the moment.
But Belle moved faster. She strode to a technician near the stage, whispering urgently. A moment later, the massive screens on either side of Alistair, meant to display corporate logos, flickered to life.
They showed not logos, but copies of emails. Encrypted lab data. Access logs from a secure server in Baltimore.
Anya's name was watermarked across every document.
Belle snatched a microphone from a nearby stand. "I'm so sorry, Alistair," her voice trembled, a masterful performance of distress. "But there's something everyone needs to know."
She turned to the stunned crowd. "For the past year, Everett Pharma has been the victim of corporate espionage. Our most vital research, the key to our Alzheimer's treatment, has been systematically stolen."
Her voice cracked. She pointed a perfectly manicured, blood-red nail directly at Anya.
"And she is the one who did it. Anya Blair."
A collective gasp sucked the air from the room. The whispers turned into a roar of accusations.
Onstage, Alistair Everett swayed. His face, already pale, turned the color of ash. He stared at Anya, his mouth opening but no sound coming out. He saw the family's legacy, their stock price, their entire future evaporating before his eyes.
He clutched his chest, his knuckles white. The tremor in his hand became a violent shake. Then, with a choked gasp, he collapsed behind the lectern.
Chaos erupted. People screamed. Security guards rushed the stage.
Anya stood untouched in the center of the storm. She didn't look at Belle, or the panicked crowd. Her eyes, the eyes of a surgeon, were locked on the fallen man on the stage.
She saw the unilateral facial droop. The fixed gaze. The sudden, catastrophic loss of motor function.
Ischemic stroke. Occlusion of the middle cerebral artery.
She was already moving.
