Chapter 5 - The Shattered Silence
A heavy, suffocating stillness descended upon the immediate vicinity. Several nearby guests turned away, sensing a private cataclysm they had no business witnessing. But Eleanor, entirely blind to the emotional gravity shifting beneath her feet, tossed her head back with a sharp, derisive laugh.
"Oh, please!" Eleanor scoffed, stepping back into Adrian’s line of sight, her tone dripping with condescension. "Adrian, don't listen to her melodramatic lies. She’s just a waitress. Probably pulled it out of some lost-and-found bin or stole it off a coat rack. Toss her out into the street where she belongs and let security handle the—"
"Get out."
Adrian’s voice wasn't loud. It didn't boom across the vaulted ceiling. But it possessed a lethal, absolute finality that made Eleanor stagger backward as if she had been physically struck.
May you like
Eleanor blinked, her smile faltering, replaced by a flash of genuine panic. "What? Adrian, I was just—"
"I said, get out of my sight before I have you removed," Adrian repeated, turning his head slowly to fix her with a stare so cold it could freeze blood in a vein. "And if you ever touch her again, you won't just leave this estate—you'll leave this city."
