A cold smile cut across my lips.
The room erupted.
"Sold her to traffickers? Didn't they say she stole the money and ran?"
"But, come to think of it, the seed money for Mr. Fox's startup always did seem to come out of nowhere..."
Barret's face went white as paper, sweat beading along his hairline.
But he recovered fast.
"Bullshit!" He slammed the table, voice shaking with manufactured rage. "You ran off with some man because you thought this family was beneath you! Things didn't work out, so now you come crawling back to slander me? Have you lost every shred of conscience you ever had?"
He sold the outrage well. Almost convincingly.
My mother lost it, shrieking as she charged toward me.
"Shut your filthy mouth, you little tramp!"
"Security! Where the hell is security? Gag her and throw her out! Now!"
Security came rushing over and immediately closed in around me, bristling with aggression.
Sara let out a cold laugh, arms folded across her chest. "Sharon Fox, is it? I'd suggest you behave yourself."
"The State Commerce Bureau just set up a new Investment Review Board, and they sent a team down to Riverside City today. My father pulled some strings to personally invite the team leader to this banquet."
"We're talking about someone with real power. Cross them, and you won't walk out of here in one piece."
Barret's eyes lit up at that. His spine straightened instantly.
"You hear that? The team leader of the Review Board."
He looked at me, dripping with smugness.
"Fox Technologies is a key enterprise backed by the city government. You want to cause a scene here? I'll make sure you spend the rest of your life behind bars."
I looked at the guards circling me, then at Barret and Sara standing there like they'd already won. I couldn't help it. I laughed.
"Oh? The team leader of the Review Board?"
I glanced at him, unhurried.
"Well, since you're both so eager for this team leader to arrive, I think I'll stay after all."
"Let's see who ends up not walking out of here in one piece."
My composure clearly rattled Sara. She scoffed, the contempt in her eyes deepening.
"Keep pretending! Go ahead!"
"Looking the way you do, I bet you don't even know what the Review Board is. And you're putting on airs?"
Her eyes rolled so far back they nearly disappeared.
Barret sneered again and again. He waved the security guards off, his gaze turning venomous.
"You really want to make a scene? Fine."