Chapter 2: The Viral Inferno
The digital fallout was instantaneous. By the time the paramedics arrived—dispatched not by the estate staff, but by a frantic viewer in Ohio who had called the police—the video was the number one trend on every social media platform in the United States.
The hashtag #JusticeForIsabella was a wildfire. News helicopters began circling the Sterling estate within thirty minutes, their searchlights cutting through the night, turning the private sanctuary into a public spectacle.
Inside the house, chaos reigned. Vivienne’s public relations team, usually so adept at spinning scandals, stood in the foyer, useless. They were reading the comments, watching their client’s life dissolve in real-time. Vivienne was locked in the library, pacing, while the mother-in-law, Eleanor, watched from the doorway with an expression that wasn't sympathy, but cold calculation.
"You are finished," Eleanor said, not even looking at her daughter-in-law. "I’ve already contacted our family trust attorneys. They are drafting a severance of all financial ties. You are on your own, Vivienne."
Isabella, meanwhile, was in the back of an ambulance, attended to by medics. She was bruised and shaken, but her baby was safe. She looked at the police officer beside her, a weary man who had spent his career dealing with domestic disputes, not high-society crimes.
"I have the rest of it," Isabella said softly.
May you like
"The rest of what, ma'am?" the officer asked.
"The evidence. The embezzlement, the blackmail, the history of abuse. I didn't just catch you in one act, Vivienne," she whispered to the empty air. "I caught you in a lifetime of them."
