Chapter 3 - The Echo in the Room
The cruelty of her words hung in the air between us, hidden beneath the ambient noise of the party. I stepped forward, putting myself between Eleanor and Liam, my blood boiling.
"Mother, that is enough," I said, my voice dangerously low.
Before she could reply, a loud crackle of static erupted over the ballroom’s main sound system.
Someone near the stage had accidentally bumped the wireless lavalier microphone pinned to Eleanor’s collar—the one meant for her upcoming keynote address. The audio technician’s desperate attempt to mute it came a second too late.
Her whispered words echoed through every speaker in the grand hall, clear, sharp, and amplified:
“A defective burden. Smile, you fool.”
The string quartet stopped playing mid-note.
The clinking of champagne glasses ceased instantly.
A heavy, suffocating silence fell over the one hundred and fifty distinguished guests in the ballroom. Heads turned slowly toward Eleanor. The fake elegance she had cultivated for decades crumbled in an instant as her face went completely pale.
"I... I didn't mean..." Eleanor stammered, her voice echoing again slightly before the mic was finally cut.
I didn't care about her humiliation. My focus was entirely on Liam, whose face had gone completely blank. His eyes were wide, staring straight ahead as if he had retreated deep into his own mind to escape the harshness of the room.
Then, from the head table, a sudden crash shattered the silence.
A chair scraped violently against the hardwood floor, knocked over by a sudden, forceful movement.
It was Admiral Cassian Vale.
The formidable military commander stood frozen, his eyes locked onto the small boy standing by my side. All color had drained from the Admiral’s face. His hands, usually steady as iron, were visibly shaking.
May you like
"Admiral?" an aide nearby asked nervously, reaching out to steady him.
Cassian pushed the aide aside with overwhelming force. He didn't say a word to the generals or politicians surrounding him. He simply began to march straight toward us, his heavy dress shoes thundering against the floor.
