Eleanor’s voice was not a plea. It was a roar of imperial fury, raw with undisputed command, echoing with the thunder of a sovereign demanding absolute obedience.
Julian flinched visibly, his face draining of color. "Mom, don't!" he cried, his voice squeaking in sudden panic. "Mom, stop!"
Eleanor did not blink. She held the microphone steady, her piercing, unyielding gaze boring directly into the marrow of Brianna’s soul.
"NOW!" Eleanor commanded into the microphone, the feedback whining through the cavernous hall like an air-raid siren. "GET ARTHUR STERLING OUT HERE THIS INSTANT!"
CHAPTER VI: THE SUMMONS OF THE TITAN
Within ten seconds of Eleanor’s roar over the ballroom speakers, the heavy mahogany double doors at the rear of the grand hall were thrown wide open.
Arthur Sterling, the Executive General Manager of the Grand Belvedere Hotel, entered the room at a near-sprint. Arthur was an imposing, impeccably dressed man in his early fifties, wearing a sharp charcoal suit with the golden emblem of the hotel chain pinned to his lapel. Behind him marched four senior floor captains and two private security liaisons.
Arthur did not need to ask who had spoken. He knew that voice. It was the voice of the woman who had appointed him fifteen years ago, the woman whose company held the master deed to the Grand Belvedere, and the woman whose signature authorized every quarterly budget in the corporate group.
Seeing Eleanor standing near the dais, her silver gown smeared with cake and her face marked by the residue of violence, Arthur’s eyes widened in profound horror.
"Mrs. Vance!" Arthur exclaimed, rushing through the parted sea of silent guests until he arrived at the foot of the stage. He bowed his head with deep, unreserved reverence. "Mrs. Vance, what on earth has happened? Are you hurt?"
Brianna stepped forward, her cheeks flushing red with irritation. She attempted to regain control of the room, raising her chin in haughty disdain.
"Manager Sterling, thank goodness you're here!" Brianna proclaimed loudly, trying to sound like an outraged patron. "This elderly woman has completely lost her mind and disrupted my wedding reception! She is screaming into the sound system and creating an intolerable disturbance! I want her escorted off these premises immediately! Julian, tell him!"
Julian stepped up beside his bride, trying to project authority that he had never earned.
"Sterling, you heard my wife," Julian blustered, tugging nervously at his bow tie. "My mother is clearly unwell and overwrought with emotion. Have security gently escort her to a private suite upstairs so the rest of us can proceed with our party."
Arthur Sterling did not move an inch toward Eleanor.
Instead, he turned his head slowly, looking at Brianna and Julian with an expression of stunned, incredulous disbelief, as if he were looking at two mental patients who had wandered into an executive boardroom.
Eleanor lowered the microphone by two inches, her voice icy, clear, and perfectly audible through the sound system.
"Arthur," Eleanor said quietly.
"Yes, Mrs. Vance?" Sterling replied instantly, standing at rigid attention.
"Who owns the Grand Belvedere Hotel?"
Brianna rolled her eyes, letting out a sharp, dismissive scoff. "What kind of ridiculous question is that? The hotel belongs to Vance Hospitality Holdings! Which means it belongs to Julian and me now! Sterling, do your job and remove her!"
Arthur Sterling’s eyes narrowed into twin points of cold contempt as he looked at the bride.
"Mrs. Julian Vance," Arthur said, his voice flat, devoid of the slightest deference. "You are grievously mistaken. The Grand Belvedere Hotel does not belong to your husband. Vance Hospitality Holdings is a privately held corporation. Seventy-six percent of the voting shares, the master corporate deed, and every operating asset are held exclusively in the private, non-transferable trust of Mrs. Eleanor Vance. Your husband owns nothing except an allowance account contingent entirely upon his mother's goodwill."
Arthur turned back to Eleanor, bowing his head once more. "This property belongs to you, Mrs. Vance. All four hundred staff members in this facility answer solely to your command."
CHAPTER VII: THE SEVERING OF TIES
The revelation fell upon the ballroom like a crushing guillotine blade.
Brianna’s jaw dropped. The haughty, imperious sneer froze on her lips, twisting into an expression of raw, sickened horror. She turned her head toward Julian, her eyes bulging with wild, frantic demands for contradiction.
"Julian... what is he talking about?" Brianna hissed, her fingernails digging painfully into his forearm. "You told me you were the managing partner! You told me you owned the hotel portfolio!"