Chapter 7 - Every Lie on the Screen
The recording echoed through the ballroom.
Daniel’s own voice described how he had switched my medication.
Sloane’s voice explained how she had forged my signature.
Margaret’s voice urged them to finish the plan before the company’s acquisition.
Each sentence stripped away another layer of respectability.
The guests watched in stunned silence.
Some recorded the screens with their phones.
Others began quietly moving away from Daniel.
Sloane grabbed his arm.
“You told me there were no recordings.”
“There weren’t.”
I stepped onto the stage.
“There are now.”
Daniel rushed toward the control table.
Security blocked him.
“You can’t do this,” he shouted.
“I’m your husband.”
“Not for much longer.”
Naomi entered the ballroom holding three envelopes.
She gave the first to Daniel.
He tore it open.
Divorce papers.
The second envelope contained his termination notice.
The third contained a copy of the criminal complaint.
Daniel looked at me as though I had become a stranger.
“You planned this.”
“For six months.”
“You pretended to be sick.”
“You made me sick.”
Sloane began crying.
Not the delicate tears she had prepared for the announcement.
These were panicked, breathless sobs.
“I’m pregnant.”
Every face turned toward me.
That was the moment the room divided.
Some people looked at Sloane with sympathy.
Others looked disgusted.
A reporter near the front raised her phone.
“Mrs. Hart, are you knowingly causing public distress to a pregnant woman?”
I faced the cameras.
“Sloane’s pregnancy is not a criminal act.”
I paused.
“Stealing money from children’s hospitals is.”
Sloane’s face collapsed.
Daniel pointed at me.
“She manipulated the accounts.”
I almost admired how quickly he abandoned her.
Sloane stared at him.
“You said we were in this together.”
Daniel ignored her.
“Evelyn, listen to me.”
“I listened for six months.”
“I can explain.”
“You already did.”
The screens displayed security footage from my husband’s study.
Daniel appeared beside Sloane, raising a glass of whiskey.
“To the day Evelyn finally becomes useless.”
Gasps moved through the ballroom.
Daniel stopped speaking.
Two investigators entered through a side door.
One approached him.
“Daniel Hart, we need you to come with us.”
Margaret pushed through the crowd.
“You can’t take my son.”
The second investigator turned toward her.
“Margaret Hart?”
May you like
Her expression froze.
“We need you to come with us too.”
