Chapter 7 - The Confrontation in the Foyer
The air in the front foyer became instantly suffocating.
"She isn't going anywhere with you, Harrison," Henri said, stepping squarely into the path of the wealthy developer. "This is my house, and Élise is my daughter-in-law."
"She is my daughter!" Harrison snapped, his calm facade slipping for a brief second to reveal the ruthless tyrant beneath. "And she belongs under my roof where she can be properly monitored! Marcus, go upstairs and bring her down."
The burly security guard stepped forward, reaching for the handrail of the staircase.
"Touch those stairs, and I will blow a hole straight through your chest," Gérard’s voice echoed loudly from the top of the landing.
Everyone looked up.
Gérard stood on the second-floor landing, holding a double-barreled hunting shotgun resting firmly against his hip, aimed directly at Marcus’s chest. His eyes were cold, steady, and entirely unforgiving.
Marcus froze, his hand hovering inches above the wooden bannister, looking back at his boss for instructions.
"Are you insane?!" Harrison yelled, his face turning red with sudden rage. "You're threatening me in your own home over a girl who isn't even blood to you?!"
"She is blood to us now!" Marguerite shouted, her voice ringing out with terrifying strength as she stepped right up to Harrison Vance, staring him down without a single trace of fear. "You think because you have millions of dollars and a suit that you can walk into my home and intimidate my family? You abused that poor child for years! You forced her to carry your sin while a innocent girl died!"
Harrison sneered at Marguerite, leaning close. "You know nothing about what happened four years ago, old woman. You have no proof. No court in Virginia will take the word of an unstable girl over mine."
"They won't have to take her word alone," a quiet, clear voice called out from the top of the stairs.
Élise stood at the top of the landing, leaning against the railing.
She had taken off her wedding dress. She was now wearing a simple pair of blue jeans and a plain grey sweater—the same simple clothes she had worn the very first day she came to Oakhaven Springs. Her face was pale, her eyes were red from crying, but her posture was no longer slouched in fear.
She was holding a small, silver flash drive tightly in her right hand.
"What is that?" Harrison demanded, his eyes narrowing as he glared up at his daughter.
"It's the secondary backup server log from your private office, Father," Élise said, her voice steady, vibrating with an absolute, unyielding courage. "The night you locked me in the basement, I found the original transfer receipt where you paid fifty thousand dollars to the university server administrator to delete the IP logs that pointed to your IP address. I saved it on this drive four years ago and hid it inside my mother's old music box."
Harrison’s face drained of color so fast he looked as if he had seen a ghost.
"You... you little bitch..." Harrison whispered, taking an instinctive step toward the stairs.
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Nathan stepped directly in front of him, locking his arms in place and staring his father-in-law down with cold, absolute defiance.
"Step back," Nathan said softly. "The police are already on their way, Harrison. I called them five minutes ago from the kitchen."
