Chapter 5: The Tackle and the Cold Sneer
The impact was brutal. Ethan hurled his entire body forward, colliding squarely with Brianna just as she was drawing back the heavy brass golf club for a second swing. The momentum sent both of them crashing hard onto the checkerboard marble floor. The heavy metal club slipped from Brianna’s manicured fingers, clattering loudly across the smooth stone surface before spinning away into the corner near the framed US flag.
Ethan scrambled immediately to his feet, shielding his weeping daughter with his body. He scooped seven-year-old Sophia up into his arms, pressing her face tightly against his shoulder as her small frame shook with uncontrollable sobs. The pristine white lilies lining the foyer seemed to mock the absolute horror of the scene.
Brianna pushed herself up from the marble floor, her expensive lace mermaid dress smudged with dust and scuffed by shoe polish. But there were no tears in her eyes, no apologies on her lips, and no remorse in her posture. Instead, she stood tall, brushing a stray lock of blonde hair from her forehead with a hand that barely trembled, her face twisting into a cold, arrogant sneer that chilled Ethan straight to the bone.
The mask was completely gone. The sweet, devoted society bride had evaporated, leaving behind a chilling stranger who looked at a terrified seven-year-old child with unadulterated contempt.
“Put her down, Ethan,” Brianna commanded, her voice dripping with venomous entitlement as she pointed a sharp red fingernail directly at the weeping girl in his arms. “She took my phone! It has classified business documents on it! Force her to hand it back right now, or I swear to God you’ll regret this day for the rest of your life!”
Ethan stared down at the woman he was supposed to marry in less than two hours. His chest heaved with heavy, ragged breaths, his mind struggling to bridge the gap between the person he thought he knew and the monster standing before him.
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“You tried to hit my daughter with a golf club,” Ethan whispered, his voice dangerously low, vibrating with a lethal mixture of shock and suppressed fury. “You absolute lunatic. You just tried to murder my little girl over a phone.”
“She’s a thief!” Brianna snarled, taking a threatening step forward, her eyes flashing with manic desperation. “Give me the phone, Ethan! Give it to me now!”
