Chapter 3: The Eviction
Blind panic immediately set in. Eleanor’s face contorted into a desperate, trembling smile. She reached across the table, frantically trying to grab the older woman’s hand. "Oh, Clara, please! It was just a terrible joke! I was just so stressed about the wedding preparations! We are family now, aren't we? Please, sit back down, let me pour you a glass of our best champagne!"
Clara didn't flinch, nor did she accept the desperately outstretched hand. She simply looked down at Eleanor with a heavy mixture of pity and absolute disgust. "We are not family," Clara said softly, but her words echoed across the silent ballroom like gunshots. "My daughter will not spend the rest of her life shrinking herself to fit into a toxic family that measures human worth by the size of a diamond."
She turned to the trembling venue manager. "Mr. Sterling," Clara commanded, her tone instantly shifting from a mother to a ruthless billionaire CEO. "Cancel the catering. Turn on the house lights. And please have security escort this woman and anyone sitting at her table off my property immediately." As the dazzling crystal chandeliers suddenly flickered off and the harsh, bright cleaning lights hummed to life, the groom's mother collapsed into her chair, realizing her petty vanity had just cost her family an empire.
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