Chapter 5 - THE NIGHT THE TRUTH WENT PUBLIC
Three days later, the Blackwood charity gala was held.
The same gala Vivian had warned Ethan about.
The same gala where she expected me to disappear quietly.
Instead, I walked through the doors wearing a simple black dress.
My father walked beside me.
Every camera turned.
Whispers spread across the ballroom.
"That's Ava Hale."
"Richard Hale's daughter."
"She's Ethan Blackwood's wife."
"Wasn't she abused?"
Vivian stood across the room.
Her smile vanished.
Ethan stood beside her.
He looked at me.
I didn't look away.
Then the lights dimmed.
Daniel walked onto the stage.
"Good evening."
The room became silent.
"We are here tonight to discuss charitable responsibility."
Vivian relaxed slightly.
Then the screen behind him turned on.
The first video appeared.
Ethan shouting.
Vivian watching.
The recording from my house.
Gasps filled the ballroom.
Then came the forged medical report.
Then the financial transfers.
Then the private messages.
Then Vivian's voice.
"Once she gives birth, she'll be easy to control."
Someone in the crowd whispered:
"Oh my God."
Vivian screamed.
"Turn that off!"
Daniel didn't stop.
The final recording appeared.
Vivian speaking to Marcus Cole.
"If anything happens to the child, Richard Hale will have no choice but to negotiate."
My father stood beside me.
His expression never changed.
The room erupted.
Reporters moved toward Vivian.
Security blocked them.
Vivian pointed at me.
"She manipulated all of this!"
I stepped onto the stage.
"No."
I looked around the room.
"I recorded it because I knew nobody would believe me."
The room became quiet.
"I was afraid."
My voice shook.
"But I kept recording."
I looked directly at Ethan.
"And I survived."
Then Ethan stepped forward.
Everyone turned.
"I confirm the recordings are real."
Vivian stared at him.
"Ethan."
He looked at her.
"You lied to me."
She slapped him.
Security immediately intervened.
Ethan didn't react.
"My mother told me Ava had nothing."
He looked toward the cameras.
"She lied."
Then he turned toward me.
"She told me Ava's father was dead."
My father raised an eyebrow.
Ethan laughed bitterly.
"She told me marrying Ava would save us."
He shook his head.
"It destroyed us."
The crowd watched in silence.
Then police entered.
Vivian's face collapsed.
She was arrested for fraud, forgery, financial crimes, and conspiracy.
Marcus Cole was arrested shortly afterward.
But Ethan wasn't.
He had cooperated.
And he had agreed to testify.
Still, there was one person left.
Arthur Blackwood.
He had disappeared.
Until the next morning.
A video arrived at Hale Global.
Arthur looked directly into the camera.
"I have one final confession."
My father watched it beside me.
Arthur continued:
"Ethan was never supposed to inherit Blackwood Holdings."
I frowned.
"What?"
Arthur smiled.
"The company was always intended for someone else."
The screen went black.
Daniel looked at us.
"Who?"
A message appeared.
BENJAMIN BLACKWOOD.
May you like
Ethan's younger brother.
Except everyone believed Benjamin had died fifteen years earlier.