Chapter 6 - The Ghost in the Machine
The silence in the room became absolute. Not a single person breathed. The ambient noise of ice melting in champagne buckets sounded like cracking thunder in the suffocating quiet.
Senator Thomas Vance’s breath hitched. His eyes darted frantically toward his security detail, his composure completely disintegrating. "She's insane! She's suffering from severe combat PTSD! Don't listen to a word she says!"
Valeria turned slightly, revealing the scarred side of her face to the crowd, allowing the bright chandeliers to illuminate every raised millimeter of her ruined tissue.
"This scar on my neck isn't from enemy fire, Senator," Valeria said coldly, stepping forward as Thomas took an instinctual step back. "It's from the thermite charge deployed by your private security team to incinerate my tactical team's remains. I crawled out of the burning chassis of my Humvee with my flesh on fire. I spent eighteen months in an underground medical facility in Zurich, rebuilding my body piece by piece, bone by bone."
She looked at Marcus, whose tears had dried into a mask of pure, unadulterated fury.
"I didn't come here to ruin your wedding, Marcus," Valeria murmured gently. "I came here because your father used the insurance payout from my 'death' to fund your bride's family bank—and because he is about to launch the second shipment of warheads from the city harbor at midnight."
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Marcus turned his head slowly toward his father. The adoration, respect, and filial duty he had held for the man who raised him evaporated into ash in a fraction of a second.
"Is this true, father?" Marcus asked, his voice dangerously quiet.
