Chapter 3 - STRIPPED NAKED
The guests began to whisper frantically among themselves.
Everyone wanted to escape the room before the wrath of Arthur Vance consumed them too.
"Anyone who attempts to leave before my daughter permits it will be ruined by morning," Arthur announced clearly.
The entire crowd froze, terrified to move even an inch.
Julian’s mother dragged herself on her hands and knees toward Victoria.
"Victoria! My sweet girl!" she wailed, tears destroying her makeup.
"I was wrong! I was deceived by Sophia!"
"I always saw you as my true daughter-in-law!"
Victoria looked down at the old woman who had slapped her and made her wash floors for three years.
"Is that why you pulled my hair five minutes ago?" Victoria asked coldly.
"Is that why you told me I was trash unfit to walk beside your son?"
"I was mistaken! Please, forgive me!" the mother sobbed, reaching for Victoria’s dress.
Victoria stepped back, allowing her father’s bodyguard to push the woman away.
"Take her jewelry," Victoria ordered plainly.
"What?" the mother gasped, looking up in shock.
"The necklace you are wearing was bought with my money," Victoria stated calmly.
"The ring on your finger was bought with my money."
"Strip her of everything that belongs to me."
Two female bodyguards stepped forward without hesitation.
In front of hundreds of high-society guests, they stripped the diamond necklace, heavy rings, and luxury watch right off Julian’s mother.
She screamed and sobbed in sheer humiliation, covered only in her torn dress.
Sophia tried to hide behind a decorative pillar, but Arthur’s men easily dragged her forward.
"And you," Victoria said, looking at Sophia’s sparkling bridal crown.
"That tiara was custom-made in Paris."
"Julian spent three hundred thousand dollars on it last month while telling me we couldn't afford my medical bills."
Sophia held onto her tiara desperately.
"You can't do this! This is assault!" Sophia shrieked.
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"I am Arthur Vance," her father replied with chilling calm.
"In this city, I am the law."
