Chapter 4 - Disarming the Serpent
Evelyn leaned against the baseboard, her hand pressed against her diaphragm as she fought to draw oxygen into her bruised chest.
Yet even while gasping for breath, the matriarch’s venomous eyes did not leave the smartphone in Chloe’s hands.
She saw the little red light blinking on the screen and realized that every swing, every scream, and every threat was already digitized.
Panic instantly overrode the physical pain radiating through her cracked ribs.
With a guttural, desperate gasp, Evelyn dropped to all fours and lunged forward across the slick marble floor.
Her claw-like fingers, capped with dark plum polish, stretched desperately toward the wooden handle of the fallen hammer.
The steel tool rested only three feet from her reaching fingertips, a silver promise of absolute destruction.
If she could grab it again, she could smash the phone, smash the witnesses, and rewrite the narrative before dawn.
Victoria moved before Evelyn’s trembling fingers could close around the wood.
With a cold, calculating flick of her ankle, Victoria’s leather boot snapped out and struck the heavy steel head like a hockey puck.
The hammer spun violently across the polished stone floor, sending a harsh scraping screech echoing through the corridor.
It rocketed fifteen feet down the hall, sliding past an ornamental archway and coming to rest harmlessly out of reach near the far turn.
Evelyn’s fingers scraped uselessly against empty stone, her fingernails clawing at the glossy marble.
She recoiled, staring at the empty space where her weapon had been, her breath hitching in pure, unadulterated terror.
Victoria stepped forward decisively, closing the distance and placing her entire body between the matriarch and the fallen hammer.
Her boots planted firmly on the floor, Victoria looked down at the woman who had terrorized this family for three decades.
"Touch my daughter again, and you're done!" Victoria commanded, her tone dropping into a deadly, quiet register that promised total annihilation.
Evelyn slowly pushed herself up from the floor, her knees shaking beneath the heavy velvet folds of her evening dress.
Her pearl necklace had twisted around her throat, choking her as she leaned back against the cream wall for balance.
She held up her empty, trembling hands, her chest heaving as she attempted to reconstruct the shattered mask of matriarchal authority.
"Victoria... you don't know what she did..." Evelyn wheezed, her voice shaking with an unconvincing plea.
"I know exactly what you are," Victoria spat back, her fists clenched at her sides, ready to strike again if Evelyn twitched.
Behind her, Chloe stepped out from the doorway, her knuckles white around the phone, her hazel eyes glistening with unshed tears.
"It's all on here, Grandma," Chloe whispered, her voice shaking with righteous fury.
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"Every single second of it is recorded," Chloe added, holding the phone steady as the camera locked onto Evelyn’s pale face.
Evelyn stared into the black camera lens, and for the very first time in her life, the billionaire matriarch felt the freezing touch of total ruin.
