Chapter 14 - THE UNMASKING
"Maya..." Victoria stammered, her flawless composure shattering in a single second.
"Get her off the stage! She is unstable!" Victoria yelled to her security team.
Four private guards lunged forward to grab Maya, but Julian stepped directly in their path.
"Don't touch her!" Julian screamed, shoving the lead guard back with all his strength.
Richard stepped onto the stage right behind Maya, accompanied by Jax.
The crowd of reporters recognized Jax instantly; murmurs swept through the front row.
"That's Jax! The racer who disappeared twenty years ago!" a senior journalist shouted.
Jax walked straight to the podium, shoved Victoria's lead lawyer aside, and took the microphone.
"Twenty years ago, Victoria Vance told you my sister died of natural complications in child delivery!" Jax roared into the mic.
"She lied to you then, and she is lying to you now!" Jax's voice thundered through the plaza speakers.
Richard stepped forward, holding the heavy manila folder high above his head for every camera to see.
"These are the original medical records from the night Maya was born!" Richard announced.
"Victoria Vance forged the adoption papers! She bribed the hospital staff!"
"And last night, she ordered a lethal chemical dose to kill my daughter in her hospital bed!" Richard shouted.
The crowd went completely wild; reporters surged past the security barricades, thrusting microphones forward.
"Mrs. Vance! Is this true?!"
"Did you forge the child's birth records?!"
"Were you trying to force an illegal delivery?!"
Victoria backed away from the podium, her eyes darting wildly around the chaotic stage.
"They are lying! They are all insane!" Victoria screamed, her voice shrill and desperate.
She turned to her head of security, her eyes wide with rage.
"Silence them! Cut the power! Clear the plaza now!" she ordered frantically.
"It's too late, Victoria," Julian said, stepping up to the microphone beside his sister.
He pulled a small digital drive from his pocket and held it up to the cameras.
"I uploaded all the financial transfer logs to the state prosecutor's office ten minutes ago," Julian announced.
"Every bribe, every offshore account, every illegal contract you ever signed."
Victoria stared at her son, her mouth open in absolute, horrified shock.
"Julian... you betrayed your own mother?" she whispered, her voice trembling.
May you like
"You were never a mother to anyone," Julian answered softly, tears glistening in his eyes.
"You were only a warden."
