Chapter 3 - LET'S SEE WHO ENTERED
The gala moved back downstairs.
Nobody was allowed to leave.
Rumors moved faster than security.
By the time Mariana entered the ballroom, people had already decided what happened.
She could see it in their faces.
Brenda stood beside Andrew.
Margaret held the empty jewelry box.
Andrew held the emerald.
Mariana walked toward them.
“Give me the stone.”
“No,” Andrew said.
“I want to examine it.”
“Why?”
“Because somebody put it in my safe.”
Brenda laughed.
“You’re saying a thief stole the necklace, broke out one emerald, somehow learned your safe combination, and planted it?”
“Yes.”
“That’s your explanation?”
“It’s my conclusion.”
Brenda looked at Andrew.
“You hear this?”
Andrew’s face was red.
“Mariana, enough.”
“No.”
“You lied about the bank meetings.”
“I refused to discuss them.”
“You hid a safe.”
“A personal safe.”
“There’s an emerald from my mother’s necklace inside it!”
“And you think I left evidence in my own safe?”
Andrew stepped closer.
“I don’t know what to think.”
“That’s the problem.”
His hand moved before either of them seemed to understand what he was doing.
SLAP.
Mariana’s head snapped sideways.
The ballroom fell silent.
Her cheek burned.
Andrew stared at his own hand.
Shock appeared in his face.
But anger swallowed it.
“Where is my mother’s necklace?!”
Mariana held her cheek.
Nobody moved.
Brenda stepped beside Andrew.
“Who else would steal it? She has nothing.”
Mariana slowly lowered her hand.
Andrew pointed toward the front door.
“GET OUT OF MY HOUSE, THIEF!”
Mariana looked at him.
Eleven years.
Eleven years helping rebuild his company.
Eleven years defending his mother.
Eleven years smiling through Brenda’s insults.
And one planted emerald had been enough.
Something inside Mariana became calm.
She smiled.
Small.
Knowing.
“Actually…”
Andrew stared.
“We don’t have to guess.”
The room became completely silent.
Mariana took out her phone.
“Someone searched my room before, so I installed a camera.”
Brenda’s smug expression vanished.
There.
Mariana saw it.
Not surprise.
Fear.
Mariana unlocked the security application.
“Let’s see who entered my room tonight.”
Margaret stepped closer.
Andrew did too.
Brenda’s face turned pale.
Mariana’s finger moved toward PLAY.
“WAIT!”
Brenda lunged.
Mariana jerked the phone away.
Brenda reached again.
Andrew grabbed her arm.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Brenda froze.
Everyone stared.
Mariana pressed PLAY.
The footage showed the empty bedroom.
Timestamp: 10:58 p.m.
The door opened.
Brenda entered.
Gasps filled the ballroom.
Andrew turned toward her.
Brenda said, “Keep watching.”
Mariana did.
Brenda went directly to the desk.
She searched the blue financial folder.
Then the closet.
Then beneath the mattress.
She never approached the safe.
She never carried a necklace.
After seven minutes, she left.
The room erupted.
Andrew looked confused.
Mariana looked at Brenda.
“You searched my room.”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
Brenda straightened her dress.
The fear disappeared.
Her intelligence returned.
“For proof.”
“Of what?”
Brenda looked at Andrew.
“Your wife has been stealing from Vance Hospitality.”
Mariana went still.
Andrew stared.
Brenda took out her own phone.
“I have bank records.”
She opened a document.
“Three transfers. Total: $8.4 million.”
Andrew looked at Mariana.
“Is that true?”
Mariana said nothing.
May you like
Brenda smiled.
“Ask her where the money went.”
