Chapter 9 - The Reckoning
Ethan walked through the heavy double doors of the Grand Capitol Ballroom, his heels echoing against the marble floor.
The room fell dead silent.
Senator Sterling froze mid-sentence at the podium. Sabrina gasped, her hand flying to her bandaged jaw.
"Ethan?!" Senator Sterling stammered, recovering his politician's grin. "My dear boy... you're safe! We were terrified! The maid—"
"Save it, Sterling," Ethan’s voice boomed across the ballroom, cutting through the murmurs of the crowd. "The games are over."
"Guard! Arrest this man! He's suffering from severe shock!" Sterling ordered, waving his hands frantically.
Four armed security officers moved toward Ethan. But before they could lay a finger on him, every large projection screen in the ballroom flickered, turned to static, and then lit up with crystal-clear high-definition video.
It was the live feed from the broadcast room.
On the screen, Grace Holloway stood over Senator Sterling’s chief IT officer, holding an encrypted flash drive she had just extracted from Sterling’s private safe.
Over the ballroom speakers, a recording played loud and clear:
Senator Sterling's voice: "Is the poison ready? Make sure Sabrina slips it to the child tonight. Once the girl is dead and Ethan is grieving, we force the stock buyout. If Ethan resists, use the same dose we gave his wife Clara three years ago."
Gasps of horror erupted through the crowd. Reporters scrambled for their cameras, flashes blinding the stage.
Senator Sterling’s face turned ghostly white. "Turn it off! Turn that off right now!"
Sabrina tried to slip away toward the rear exit, but Grace suddenly appeared in the doorway, blocking her path.
Sabrina panicked, reaching into her purse for a hidden pocketknife. She lunged wildly at Grace.
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Grace didn't even move her feet. She caught Sabrina’s wrist in mid-air, twisted it with lightning precision, and delivered a swift, controlled front kick to Sabrina’s midsection. Sabrina collapsed onto the floor, gasping for air, right at the feet of the arriving federal agents.
"Senator Sterling, Sabrina Sterling," FBI agents announced, swarming the stage with guns drawn. "You are under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder, high treason, and corporate fraud!"
