Chapter 3: The Digital Verdict
Isabella reached into her clutch and pulled out her phone. Her thumb hovered over the screen.
"Everyone, please check your notifications," she said, her voice dropping to a whisper that traveled with the intensity of a command.
All around the room, the distinct, rhythmic vibration of five hundred smartphones triggered simultaneously. A collective rustle filled the ballroom as guests looked down. Isabella had sent a mass email to every attendee—investors, journalists, competitors, and government officials.
Attached was a PDF: The Thorne-Sterling Audit. It contained every wire transfer, every incriminating text message between Serena and Julian, and the verified proof of the embezzlement of the Sterling Foundation’s charitable assets.
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Serena’s legs gave out, and she sank onto the debris-covered floor. Her phone lit up with calls from her lawyers, from her brokers, and from the people she had been blackmailing. The social suicide was instantaneous. Within seconds, her Twitter was flooded with evidence, and the stock price of Thorne Global began to crater in real-time as the automated trading bots reacted to the leaked SEC filings.
Julian stood frozen, staring at his own phone, watching his reputation, his wealth, and his freedom evaporate in the span of thirty seconds.
