Chapter 5: Storming the Penthouse
I didn't knock. I didn't wait to be announced. With a sharp, decisive shove, I kicked the mahogany doors wide open, the loud crash instantly silencing the jazz piano and freezing every glass mid-air. Heads whipped around in shock as Noah and I strode into the center of the expansive ballroom suite like avenging specters. Preston’s face drained of all color, his champagne glass slipping from his fingers to shatter against the Persian rug with a sharp, explosive crack. "Maren?" Preston stammered, stepping backward into the podium. "How... how did you get out of... I mean, security! Security, get these trespassers out of my hotel!" No security guards appeared, because Noah had already overridden the electronic access controls at the floor’s utility junction box. Stepping up to the edge of the podium, I dropped the heavy, cracked brown leather ledger onto the mahogany wood with a deafening thud that rattled the crystal decanters.
"You can call all the security you want, Preston," I announced, my voice ringing with crystal-clear authority across the entire room. "But before you liquidate my mother’s legacy to a foreign shell company at midnight, you’re going to explain to these investors why every single asset you’re selling is built on corporate forgery, stolen land titles, and calculated fraud." Vivian Vale pushed her way through the stunned crowd, her face twisted in venomous rage. "Guards! Throw this unhinged woman out before she ruins us all!" But before anyone could move, Noah stepped forward, connecting his industrial tablet to the podium’s master projector screen. With a swift tap of his finger, high-resolution digital scans of the forged signature documents, the secret underground vault inventories, and the real-time wire transfer interception logs beamed across the giant wall screen for every investor in the room to read in horrifying, unedited detail.
