The moment Anissa and Harding st epped fully into the ballroom, the crowd parted like the Red Sea. People bowed their heads in respectful greetings but their eyes darted up filled with naked curiosity and barely concealed malice.
Harding guided het toward the center of the room before stopping: He fooked down at her, adjusting his gold-rimmed glasses.
“Aurthur wants to see me in the study regardingthe European merger” Harding said, his voice low enoughthat only she could hear. He leaned in, his lips brushingthe shell of her ear, "The floor is yours, Mrs. Snow. Do. whatever you please.”
He gave her waist a final, reassuring squeeze and walked away, flanked by two bodyguards.
The second Harding disappeared into the crowd, the atmospheric pressure in the room shifted. The fearful respect vanished r eplaced by the hungry predatory stares of the elite. They smelled blood inthe water Anissaignoredthem. She walked gracefully toward the towering crystal champagne pyramid. She picked up a flute, leaned her back against the marble bar, and watched the room with half-lidded eyes.
A few yards away, Sybil Snow, Connor's aunt, was aggressively fanning herself with a lace hand fan. She swayed her hipsas she walked rightup 10 Beatrice,
“Well, Beatrice,” Sybil said, her voice intentionally loud enough to carry over the music. It seems you haven't just lost a son to the gulters. You'vegaineda lovely, pennilesscommoner for a sister-in-law. How does it feel to be r eplaced by the help?"
Beatrice's face flushed a violent, ugly shade of purple The stem of her wine glass groaned under the pressure of her grip The surrounding ‘women covered their mouths, letting out high pitched mackinggiggles. Humiliated and backed into a corner, Beatrice needed a target. Her eyes snapped to Anissa standing alone by the bar.
Beatrice marched across the floor, her high heels clicking furiously against the marble. She stopped inches from Anissa her chest heaving. “You shameless little gold digger” Beatrice hissed, pointinga manicured finger directly at Anissas face. "You think you've won? You used your filthy, cheap tricks to crawl into Harding's bed and rutnmy son's life!' ss ee
ch 2 g $8 +120 Points at most The string quartet in the comer seemed to fade away. Ine entire ballroom held its collective breath. Everyone waited for the fragile, former fiancée to burst into tears and run away
Anissa didnt blink She didn't even lower her champagne glass. She looked at Beatrice the way one might look at a cockroach on a clean floor.
When Beatrice finally stopped to take a breath, Anissa let out a soft, melodic laugh. The sound cut through the silent room like a razor blade. “I didn't ruin Connor” Anissa said slowly, her voice perfectly modulated, yet carrying to every comer of the room. "His own pathetic lack of impulse control ruined him That, and a mother who raised a weak, spineless boy instead of a man."
A collective gasp echoed throughthe crowd.
Bealrice's eyes bulged Her entire body began to shake with uncontrollable rage. ‘What did you say to me? You piece of trash! How dare you speak to me like that!"
Anissatook a st ep forward. The lazy indifferencevanishedfrom hereyes, r eplaced by a terrifying lethal sharpness Her aura exploded, forcing Beatrice to physically stumble backward
“According 1 o the laws of this family," Anissa said, her voice droppingto a freezing whisper "I am the Matriarch. | am your superior. You will address me with respect, Beatrice, or you will not address me at all " Sybil, standing nearby, couldnt resist fanning the flames. She let out a cruel laugh. "Oh, Beatrice! Look at you, getting put in your place by a little gia"
The mockery snapped the last thread of Beatrice's sanity. With a feral shriek she raised her right hand high into the air, aiming a vicious slap directly at Anissas face.
Several women screamed
The slap never landed
Anissa’s left hand shot up with blindingspeed. Her fingers clamped down around Beatrice's wrist like a steel vice. She squeezed hard, diggingher thumbinto the nerve.
Beatrice let out a sharp cry of pain, her knees bucklingslightly. Anissaleaned in bringingher lips inches from Beatricets ear.
A flash of memory, a vicious rumor shed overheard in her past life, surfaced in Anissa's mind. At the time, she'd dismissed it as bitter gossip. Now, it was the sharpest blade in her arsenal. ‘If that hand touches my face," Anissa whispered her voice laced with pure poison I guarantee that by tomorrow morning the front page of the Wall Street Journal will aren dang ven
N2 #8 +120 Points at most be runninga very interesting exposé on a certain Snow family member's offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands. Do you really think your husband's fragile little house of cards can survive an SEC audit?” Beatrice froze. All the blood instantly drained from her face, leaving her looking like a corpse. Her pupils dilated in absolute terror. That was her husband'sde epest, darkest secret. If it got out, they wouldn't just be poor; they would die in federal prison.
Anissa shoved Beatrice's arm away as if she were discardinga dirty rag, She turned to a passing waiter, picked up a white linen napkin from his tray, and meticulously wiped the fingers that had touched Beatrice. Anissa threw the napkinonto the floor. She sw ept her cold gaze over the. terrified faces of the surroundingguests.
“From this moment on," Anissa announced her voice echoing off the vaulted ceiling "ke ep your pathetic superioritycomplexes to yourselves,” The ballroom was dead silent. Sybil fan had stopped moving.
Beatrice clutched her bruised wrist, her chest heaving in panic. Without saying another word, she turned and practically sprinted toward the exit, pushingblindly throughthe crowd.
Anissa picked up her champagne flute and drained it in one smooth motion. The first battle was won.