Chapter 3: The Digital Avalanche
The silence that fell over the luxurious foyer was sudden and absolute. The smug grin on Harrison’s face froze, his features locking into a bizarre, distorted mask of confusion. Chloe blinked, her eyes darting from Victoria’s face to the rapidly scrolling chat on the smartphone screen.
The comments were flying past too fast to read: “Oh my god, he just admitted to corporate fraud on camera!” “Did he say he laundered money through a tech subsidiary? Calling the IRS right now!” “The SEC is going to have a field day with this video.” “Look at the mistress’s face! She thinks she won a prize, but she just joined a federal indictment!”
"What... what is that?" Harrison stammered, his voice losing its booming, authoritative edge.
"Thanks for the confession. My lawyers loved the show," Victoria said. She said that with a cold, triumphant finality.
She didn't just stream it to her personal social media. Weeks prior, Victoria had collaborated with an investigative tech journalist and a prominent American financial news influencer. They had set up a verified, high-bandwidth broadcast link that pushed the live-stream directly to major business forums, viral news aggregators, and the public relations feeds of Vance Enterprises’ primary institutional investors. Every single word Harrison had spoken—every admission of wire fraud, asset concealment, and document tampering—had been broadcast in high-definition audio and video to the entire corporate world.
The husband didn't understand why his phone was suddenly blowing up with calls from his lawyers.
In his breast pocket, his phone began to vibrate violently. Then it rang. He ignored it. It rang again instantly. A second later, Chloe’s phone began to chime with frantic text messages from her talent agency and her brand sponsors.
"Harrison..." Chloe whispered, her face turning pale under her heavy makeup. "My agency just dropped me. My Instagram account... it's being flooded with millions of hate comments. The brands are canceling my contracts!"
Victoria calmly stood up from the marble floor, brushing the dust off her jeans. She looked at the flashing screen one last time, seeing the viewer count hit five million.
May you like
"Goodbye, Harrison," Victoria said softly.
She ended the broadcast.
