Chapter 5
Douglas staggered back against the floral-laden altar, knocking over a crystal vase that shattered against the marble floor with a sharp, echoing crack. The delicate white roses spilled across the cream-and-gray tiles, trampled under the panicked shuffling of the wedding guests.
"Is this true?" Douglas demanded, his voice breaking into a harsh, ragged croak as he whipped his head around to face his younger daughter. His distinguished face was twisted in a mask of horror and betrayal. "Juliette, look me in the eye and tell me this is a fabricated lie. Tell me you didn't pay to have your own sister locked away!"
Juliette’s chest heaved under the tight satin bodice of her wedding gown. Her dark-brown eyes darted wildly around the room, finding no sympathy in the stony, judgmental faces of the billionaire elite who had danced at her parties just hours before. The veil slipped slightly from her updo, framing a face dripping with cold sweat that ruined her expensive bridal makeup.
"I did what had to be done!" Juliette shrieked, her voice losing all pretense of elegance as she abandoned her aristocratic posture. She pointed a trembling, diamond-ringed finger directly at Caroline. "You were ruining everything! You wanted to expose Dad's embezzlement to the SEC! You were going to tear down the entire Mercer Holding group just to satisfy your pathetic moral compass! You brought this on yourself!"
A collective gasp rippled through the ballroom. Whispers exploded into loud, indignant murmurs among the prominent business partners and politicians seated in the front rows. The revelation of corporate embezzlement dropped like a bomb upon the already volatile family drama.
"My God," muttered Senator Vance, standing up from his seat. "The Mercer Foundation audit... it wasn't an external hack. It was internal."
"Of course it was," Caroline said, her steps bringing her within arm's reach of the altar stairs. She looked up at her trembling sister with an expression of profound, chilling pity. "And you thought burning down the east wing while I was asleep would solve all your problems. You thought the fire would consume the evidence of the audit, and consume me along with it."
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"I didn't start the fire!" Juliette sobbed hysterically, her immaculate wedding facade completely shattered as she dropped to her knees on the satin-draped steps of the altar, ignoring the dirt from Caroline's bare feet smudging the hem of her multi-thousand-dollar designer gown. "I swear to God, I didn't touch the wires! It was an accident! It was just supposed to scare you!"
"An accident," Caroline repeated softly, her eyes narrowing as she climbed the first step of the altar. "Yet you made sure the deadbolt on the exterior door was jammed from the outside before you left the hallway."
