Chapter 3

Inside the grand ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria, the air was thick with the scent of expensive perfume and old money.

Crystal chandeliers cast a blinding, brilliant light over the crowd. A string quartet played a soft classical piece, perfectly masking the vicious undercurrents of the vanity fair.

Kendal stood in the center of the room, wearing a custom-made, starry-night gown. She was surrounded by a circle of Wall Street socialites, her smile flawless and practiced.

"To Kendal," an investment banker's wife said, raising her champagne flute with an overly sweet smile. "And to her upcoming marriage to the head of the Hammond family."

Kendal lowered her head, feigning shyness. She lifted her left hand just enough to let the light catch the massive pink diamond engagement ring on her ring finger.

Gasps of admiration rippled through the group.

Standing nearby, her mother Marlene lifted her chin. She soaked in the envy of the room, thrilled by the absolute power her daughter was about to secure.

Near the side entrance of the ballroom, Zane slipped through the heavy doors, panting heavily. His eyes darted frantically through the crowd.

He dodged a waiter carrying a tray of drinks and ducked behind a marble pillar. He pulled out his phone and sent a voice memo to Godfrey, keeping his voice to a harsh whisper.

"Her car is in the underground garage. The bodyguards just took the little girl up to a private suite."

Godfrey had just stepped through the side entrance when the audio message played against his ear.

His footsteps stopped instantly. The leather soles of his shoes screeched against the polished marble floor.

The little girl.

Those three words wrapped around Godfrey's throat like a vine covered in thorns, choking the air out of his lungs.

He leaned his back against the freezing wall. His brain ruthlessly calculated the timeline. Five years since the divorce. The kid was four or five. It was the ultimate, undeniable proof of her betrayal.

His hands began to shake uncontrollably. He thought the pain had gone numb years ago, but the agony tearing through his chest felt brand new.

Alex noticed his boss's pale face and stepped closer, his voice trembling. "Mr. Hammond... do you need to cancel the rest of the evening?"

Godfrey took a massive breath, forcing the blood back down from his head. When he opened his eyes, they were as cold and sharp as ice picks.

"No," he said, his voice completely hollow.

He straightened his spine and pushed open the heavy double doors leading into the main ballroom.

The moment the doors opened, the loud chatter in the room died down. Every pair of eyes locked onto the true king of New York.

Kendal's eyes lit up. She lifted the hem of her gown and walked toward Godfrey with the grace of a proud peacock, ready to claim her prize in front of the entire city.

But Godfrey's eyes didn't even flick in her direction. His gaze swept the massive room like a radar, searching every corner, every shadow.

Kendal reached him. She smiled brightly and reached out to loop her arm through his.

Godfrey shifted his weight and stepped to the side, completely dodging her touch.

The socialites watching from the sidelines saw everything. The whispers started instantly, spreading through the corners of the room like a virus.

Kendal's smile froze. A flash of pure humiliation and venom crossed her eyes, but she quickly forced her social mask back into place.

Suddenly, a piercing burst of static ripped through the ballroom's top-tier sound system.

The massive screen on the main stage, which had been playing a documentary about the Lee family's charity work, went completely black.

Everyone turned toward the stage. The string quartet stopped playing in shock.

The black screen flickered, and a bright green audio waveform appeared. The entire room fell into a bizarre, suffocating silence.

Then, a voice echoed through the speakers. It was a cold, steady female voice. A voice that made Godfrey's soul violently shudder.

"So, as long as I drink this, tomorrow's headlines will have the absolute proof of my affair. Right, Kendal?"

The recorded words dropped into the crowd like a live grenade.

Every single head in the room snapped toward Kendal. Her face drained of all color, turning a sickly, ashen white.

Kendal let out a piercing scream. She abandoned her elegant posture and sprinted toward the soundboard, desperately trying to rip the power cords out of the wall.

The hotel's head of security, alarmed by the sudden hijacking of their systems and the escalating chaos, rushed forward. He and another uniformed hotel guard stepped out of the shadows and blocked her path, their faces like stone, desperate to prevent a physical altercation on the main stage.

Up on the second-floor wraparound balcony, a slender figure in a minimalist black evening gown stepped into the spotlight.

Alyse looked down at the chaos below. Her eyes tracked through the crowd and locked perfectly onto Godfrey.

A cold, vengeful smile curved her lips.