Chapter 5 - Projected to the World
The massive projector screen behind Grant flickered instantly, cutting away from the corporate logo.
Gone was Whitmore Renewal & Monarch Cove.
Instead, displayed in ultra-high-definition, crystal-clear detail across a forty-foot screen for every investor, board member, and family member to see, was the photo Evelyn had snapped through the penthouse glass just sixteen hours earlier.
There was Grant—barefoot, wearing the white linen shirt Evelyn had packed for him.
His arm was wrapped tightly around Sienna Blake’s waist.
Sienna’s blue silk dress was unmistakable. Her head was tilted back, laughing softly against his ear.
On the marble table beside them sat the two crystal glasses, the champagne in the silver bucket, the anniversary flowers ordered in Evelyn’s name, and the glowing reflection of the Happy Anniversary banner in the glass.
The entire ballroom gasped.
Patricia Whitmore let out a sharp, horrified shriek, collapsing back into her seat. Douglas Whitmore stared at the screen as if he had been struck by lightning. Mallory covered her mouth with both hands, her eyes wide with sheer disbelief.
On the side aisle, Sienna Blake went completely white, dropping her tablet to the floor with a loud plastic clatter.
On stage, Grant spun around.
When his eyes landed on the massive image of himself and his mistress projected behind him, all the color drained from his face. He looked like a man standing before a firing squad.
“No...” Grant choked out, his voice cracking into a pathetic whisper over his active microphone. “No, wait, this... this is a fake! It’s an AI-generated deepfake, it’s photoshopped—”
“Is it?” Evelyn asked calmly, stepping up the metal stairs onto the stage, closing the distance between them until she stood right beside him under the glowing light of his betrayal.
She pulled a second document from her folder and held it up.
“This is the resort access log for the Monarch Penthouse,” Evelyn announced to the stunned auditorium. “Issued under a corporate partnership override. Keycard scanned at 4:14 PM yesterday. Swipe registered to Sienna Blake, with secondary guest access granted to Grant Whitmore. The same suite, Grant, where you told me via text message that you were stuck on a board call in San Francisco.”
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The silence in the room was absolute, heavy enough to crush bone.
Grant stood paralyzed, his mouth opening and closing soundlessly, unable to form a single lie.
