Chapter 6 - The Public Reckoning
"Alyssa!" Aaron shouted, pushing his way through the crowd of billionaires and reporters.
"Sir, stay back," two Secret Service agents warned, placing their hands on their belts.
"No, wait! That’s my wife!" Aaron yelled, his voice cracking with desperation.
I paused, turning slowly to face him. The entire ballroom fell silent as cameras began flashing repeatedly. Reporters from Forbes and Bloomberg quickly leaned in, smelling the blood of a massive scandal.
"Mr. Prescott," I said, my voice carrying clearly through the room. "You are breaking personal space protocols."
"Alyssa, please!" Aaron begged, falling to his knees right in the middle of the ballroom floor, completely discarding whatever pride he had left. "I was wrong! I was blind! Jasmine meant nothing to me! It was a mistake! My mother was wrong to speak to you that way!"
Eleanor’s face flushed red with humiliation as every high-society woman in New York stared at her with deep disgust.
"You built everything I have, Alyssa!" Aaron cried out, tears rolling down his cheeks. "I didn't realize... I thought I was the one leading us, but it was always you! Please, don't destroy Prescott Tech! Don't throw away our four years of marriage over one stupid mistake on a plane!"
I stepped toward him, my emerald gown whispering against the floor. I looked down at the man I had loved, the man I had raised up from obscurity, and felt nothing at all.
"It wasn't a mistake on a plane, Aaron," I said softly, yet clearly enough for every microphone to capture. "The plane was just the moment you finally showed me who you really were. You thought my love was weakness. You thought my silence was insignificance. You thought you could disrespect me because you believed you were above me."
"I was wrong! I swear I was wrong!" he sobbed.
"You were," I agreed calmly. "And now, you are going to pay for every single dollar, every single patent, and every single piece of respect you stole from me."
I turned my back on him and looked at the Mayor. "Shall we proceed to the main stage, Mr. Mayor?"
May you like
"Right this way, Ms. Vance," the Mayor replied deferentially.
Behind me, security officers grabbed Aaron by his elbows and dragged him kicking and screaming off the ballroom floor, right in front of every major news outlet in the country.