Chapter 5 - The Daughter’s Truth
Elena collided with her father’s chest, wrapping her slender, shivering arms violently around his waist to halt the blow.
"Don't you dare touch him!" Elena shrieked, her voice cutting through the courtyard like shattered glass.
Marcus stumbled back half a step, shocked by the sudden, desperate weight of his daughter clinging to him.
Her pale blue gown was icy cold, soaking through Marcus’s custom tuxedo and chilling him to the bone.
"Elena, move! He tried to kill you!" Marcus pleaded, his voice cracking as he looked down at her drenched form.
Elena pulled herself away from him, her hazel eyes blazing with a fierce, incandescent fury Marcus had never seen in her.
She stepped squarely between her father and her uncle, shielding Julian’s battered body with her own.
Julian reached up, gently touching her trembling shoulder from behind, offering whatever strength he had left.
"Julian didn't push me, Dad! He saved my life!" Elena screamed, every syllable ringing with undeniable conviction.
The courtyard went dead silent; even the rustling leaves of the surrounding manicured oaks seemed to still.
Marcus stared at his daughter, his furious gray eyes blinking in utter, disoriented confusion.
"What... what are you talking about? Victoria said—" Marcus began, his voice wavering for the first time.
Elena turned, extending a pale, trembling arm toward the shadows near the terrace pillar.
Her index finger pointed like an accusatory blade straight at the woman in the crimson designer gown.
"Victoria pushed me!" Elena shouted, tears finally breaking through her defiance and spilling down her pale cheeks.
Victoria’s manufactured tears vanished in an instant, replaced by a momentary flash of sheer, cornered panic.
"She's traumatized, Marcus! She swallowed water, she doesn't know what she's saying!" Victoria protested shrilly.
Victoria stepped forward, her icy blue eyes projecting false motherly concern while her hands fidgeted nervously.
"Elena, darling, you hit your head when Julian threw you! You're confused!" Victoria insisted, taking another step.
"Don't you dare call me darling!" Elena screamed, taking an aggressive step forward despite her shivering limbs.
"You ripped my mother’s birthday crown right off my head! You screamed that this party wasn't about me!"
Elena’s voice shook with righteous fury as she recounted the horror high above the pool.
"You grabbed my dress, you dragged me to the glass, and you shoved me with both hands!" Elena cried out to the entire assembly.
Gasps of collective shock rippled through the thirty-five guests, several high-society patrons stepping away from Victoria.
Victoria’s face drained of color, her perfect crimson lips parting as she realized the room was turning against her.
Marcus slowly turned his head from Elena toward his wife, his chest heaving with conflicting, agonizing emotions.
"Victoria... is this true?" Marcus asked, his voice deathly low, vibrating with an ominous warning tremor.
"Of course not! Are you insane?! I have been nothing but a devoted mother to this ungrateful brat!" Victoria hissed defensively.
"She's lying to protect Julian because they've always conspired against me!" Victoria added, desperation creeping into her pitch.
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The confrontation hung on a razor’s edge, brother against brother, husband against wife, father caught in the abyss.
Then, a sharp electronic hum echoed from the banquet area as the massive outdoor LED screen suddenly flickered to life.
