I walked directly towards Silas, my emerald gown rustling softly with each determined step. The crowd parted around me, leaving a path that felt both impossibly long and terrifyingly short.
Silas, still surrounded by his acolytes, visibly stiffened as I approached.
“Silas,” I said, my voice clear and steady in the sudden hush that had fallen over his circle.
He forced a smile, cold and thin. “Eleanor. What a… surprise.”
I ignored his pretense. I reached into my small evening reticule and pulled out a carefully folded copy of the Lockhart family ledger. I laid it flat on a nearby table, the faded script stark under the ballroom lights.
“I believe this belongs to you,” I said, my voice gaining strength. “Or rather, it reveals the true foundation of your fortune. The mill, Silas. The fabricated debt of five thousand dollars. The forced sale.”
His polished facade cracked. His eyes, usually so controlled, blazed with an raw, furious rage I hadn’t seen since the ball. His hand clenched into a fist at his side.
“How dare you,” he hissed, leaning close, his voice a low, dangerous growl. “You grasping, vindictive fool. You think this means anything? I built an empire, Eleanor! A man does what he must…”
He stopped short, his face contorting, on the verge of a desperate confession, or perhaps a renewed threat to ruin us entirely.
Just then, a sudden, cacophonous roar erupted from outside the venue. The grand hall itself seemed to vibrate. Distant shouts grew closer, louder, merging into a unified, angry chant.
“Justice for workers! Lockhart lies!”
A sudden, violent surge of panic rippled through the ballroom. Guests gasped, security guards rushed to the windows. Workers from one of Silas’s factories, protesting unfair wages, had gathered en masse, disrupting the entire event.
Silas, momentarily stunned, saw his chance. His gaze flickered from my face to the chaos at the windows. He turned abruptly, melting into the panicked crowd, seizing the diversion to escape further public humiliation.
Our confrontation was cut short. His confession unmade, his full reckoning evaded, at least for now.
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