The emerald earring gleamed in Amanda's palm. The whispers of the crowd turned into a loud, buzzing roar of judgment directed at the woman hanging from the guards' hands.

Seraphina's makeup ran down her face in dark streaks. She shook her head violently from side to side.

"I didn't steal it!" Seraphina sobbed. She twisted her neck and locked her eyes on Julio. She bit down hard on her lower lip, her chest heaving. "Julio, please! Tell them!"

Julio's face was rigid. He looked at the earring in Amanda's hand, then down at Seraphina's tear-stained face. The muscle in his jaw ticked.

He shoved his way past a group of shocked investors. He threw his shoulder into the chest of the security guard holding Seraphina's right arm.

"Get your hands off her," Julio growled.

The crowd gasped again. The heir to the Mathews family was physically fighting security for a thief.

Julio ripped off his custom suit jacket. He wrapped it tightly around Seraphina's shaking shoulders and pulled her flush against his chest. He glared at the room, daring anyone to step forward.

Amanda watched his hands pull the fabric around the other woman. A block of solid ice formed in her chest. Her lungs felt paralyzed.

"Are you insane?" Amanda asked. Her voice cracked. She pressed her free hand hard against her stomach to stop the cramping. "She is wearing stolen jewelry. You are protecting a thief."

Julio snapped his head toward Amanda. The look in his eyes was pure, unadulterated hatred.

"She is not a thief," Julio yelled. He pointed a finger directly at Amanda's face. "You are a liar. You planted that earring on her."

The ballroom went dead silent again.

Amanda's eyes widened. She looked at the heavy emerald in her hand. She looked back at Julio. "What?"

"You are jealous of her," Julio said. His voice echoed off the high ceiling. "Seraphina is brilliant at work. You are nothing but a cold, paranoid shrew. You brought that earring down here and dropped it to frame her, just to ruin this party."

The crowd inhaled sharply. The socialites who had mocked Seraphina earlier were now looking at Amanda with deep disgust.

Amanda's hand began to shake. She held the earring up higher. "This is physical proof! I found it on the floor after she ran out of the hallway!"

Julio scoffed loudly. He pulled Seraphina closer. "You are having a psychotic break, Amanda. You have been acting crazy for months. You make up lies to get attention because you know I am tired of you."

Seraphina buried her face in Julio's chest. She let out a loud, pathetic sob. Her fingers clutched the fabric of his shirt, playing the helpless victim perfectly.

On the stage, Billie leaned into the microphone.

"Amanda, please," Billie said. Her voice was soft and full of pity. "Do not use grandmother's memory to bully someone. It is cruel."

The crowd turned entirely against Amanda. The whispers grew louder, filled with words like "crazy," "jealous," and "pathetic."

Amanda stood alone in the center of the spotlight. The physical weight of the stares pressed down on her shoulders. The room started to spin. Her vision blurred at the edges.

She bit down on the inside of her cheek until she tasted fresh blood. The sharp pain forced her brain to focus. She locked her knees to keep from falling.

She stared directly into Julio's eyes.

"You are throwing away basic facts and human dignity for her?" Amanda asked. Her voice was a raspy whisper, but the room was so quiet everyone heard it.

"The fact is you are a liar," Julio said coldly. "Apologize to Seraphina right now, or I am calling off the wedding."

The threat hung in the air.

Meredith broke through the crowd. She lunged at Amanda. Her manicured hands clamped down on Amanda's wrist. Meredith dug her nails into Amanda's skin and violently ripped the emerald earring out of her palm.

"Shut your mouth!" Meredith hissed in Amanda's ear. "You are destroying this family. Apologize to him immediately."

Amanda looked at her mother's furious face. She looked at the empty space in her palm where the earring had been.

The last thread holding her heart together snapped. It did not hurt anymore. The ice in her chest expanded, freezing everything inside her.

Amanda stood up perfectly straight. She looked at Julio. She looked at Seraphina. She looked at Meredith.

The corners of Amanda's mouth twitched. She smiled. It was a cold, dead, terrifying smile.

She turned her gaze back to Billie on the stage. "Before I apologize," Amanda said, her voice piercing the silence, "tell me, Billie. Does the earring you claim to have lost have my grandmother's initials, 'AR', engraved on the back of the gold setting? Because the one in my mother's hand does. Let us see yours."

Billie's fake tears instantly stopped. The color drained from her face. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. The crowd shifted, murmuring in confusion as they noticed Billie's sudden panic.

Julio saw the smile fade from Billie's face, but he was too arrogant to understand the trap. He still thought he had won. He let out a breath and turned to lead Seraphina away.

The heavy wooden doors at the back of the ballroom slammed open.

Rosa, the housekeeper, ran into the room. She was panting heavily. In her hands, she held a silver serving tray high above her head.

"Wait!" Rosa yelled.

Rosa pushed through the crowd of wealthy guests. Her chest heaved as she stopped at the edge of the spotlight. She lowered the silver tray.

Laying in the center of the polished metal was a single, antique emerald earring surrounded by crushed diamonds.

Meredith dropped Amanda's wrist. She snatched the earring from the tray and held it up next to the one she had just ripped from Amanda's hand. They were an exact match.

"Where did you find this?" Meredith demanded.

Rosa caught her breath. "The maid was cleaning Miss Billie's room. She found it wedged behind Miss Billie's vanity mirror. It was never stolen."

The words hit the room like a physical shockwave. The theft was a lie.

On the stage, Billie gasped loudly. She slapped both hands over her mouth. She dropped the microphone and ran down the stairs. She rushed over to Amanda. Her eyes were wide, and fresh tears spilled down her cheeks.

"Oh my god," Billie cried. She reached out and grabbed Amanda's cold hands. "Amanda, I am so sorry! I must have misplaced them when I was trying them on. It was an accident. Please forgive me."

The crowd immediately softened. Whispers of "poor Billie" and "an honest mistake" rippled through the room.

Amanda looked down at Billie's hands holding hers. She felt absolutely nothing.

Julio let out a loud, triumphant scoff. He tightened his grip on Seraphina.

"See?" Julio said loudly. He glared at Amanda. "It was just an honest mistake! Billie misplaced them. And yet you brought this fake witch hunt down here and nearly ruined the entire party! You are always so dramatic and mentally unstable over nothing. You owe everyone an apology for your psychotic behavior!"

Seraphina peeked out from under Julio's jacket. She looked at Amanda. A tiny, vicious smirk flashed across Seraphina's lips before she hid her face again.

Amanda stared at the smirk. She stared at Billie's fake tears. She stared at Julio's arrogant face.

They had set her up. They had planned to humiliate her, and even when the truth came out, they still demanded she bleed for them.

The numbness in Amanda's chest shattered. A violent, reckless energy surged through her veins. Her stomach pain vanished entirely, replaced by pure adrenaline.

Amanda violently ripped her hands out of Billie's grip. She pushed Billie backward. Billie stumbled in her heavy dress and let out a shocked cry.

Amanda reached into her coat pocket. She pulled out her phone.

She did not look at anyone. She walked straight toward the small soundboard set up near the edge of the stage for the string quartet. The musicians were staring at the drama, completely ignoring their equipment. Amanda reached out, grabbed the auxiliary cable plugged into the main mixer, and shoved it directly into her phone's headphone jack.

She opened her voice memos. She pressed play.

The audio blasted through the massive speakers mounted in the corners of the ballroom.

"Julio," Seraphina's whiny, high-pitched voice echoed off the crystal chandelier. "Some girls just bullied me in the hallway. They were so mean. Come find me, please."

The crowd froze.

"Okay, I am coming back in," the recording finished.

Everyone turned their heads and stared at Seraphina. The helpless victim act was instantly destroyed by the sound of her calculating voice.

Amanda did not stop. She opened her photo gallery. She selected the picture Jeanette had sent her-the photo of Julio's hand wrapped tightly around Seraphina's waist at the private club.

She tapped the share button. She did not use AirDrop. Instead, she opened a group message containing the contacts of three notorious society gossip bloggers she had spotted near the champagne pyramid earlier. She hit send. A second later, a chorus of digital pings erupted from the back of the room. One of the bloggers gasped loudly, practically shoving her phone into the face of a wealthy socialite next to her. The picture spread like a digital wildfire. Within seconds, dozens of phones vibrated at the exact same time.

Guests pulled their phones from their pockets and purses. They looked at the screens. The sharp intake of breath from a hundred people sucked the oxygen out of the room.

Julio's face turned the color of ash. He looked around at the staring crowd. He realized what had just happened.

He ripped his arm away from Seraphina. He shoved her away from him like she was on fire. Seraphina stumbled and fell to her knees. She reached out for the guests, but the socialites stepped backward, looking at her with pure disgust.

Amanda stood in the center of the chaos. The heavy weight that had been crushing her for three years was gone. She smiled. It was a massive, genuine, terrifying smile.

She reached over and grabbed the microphone Billie had dropped on the floor.

"Since you love putting on a show," Amanda said into the mic, her voice echoing over the whispers, "I decided to host the premiere of your affair for the whole city."

The ballroom exploded into shouting.

The noise in the ballroom was deafening. Reporters who had sneaked into the back of the room started snapping photos of Julio standing next to the crying Seraphina.

Harrison Rogers shoved his way through the crowd. His face was dark red, the veins in his neck bulging against his tuxedo collar.

Julio lunged forward. He reached out to grab the microphone from Amanda's hand. He wanted to cut the power.

Amanda stepped back. Her heel caught the edge of the table holding the massive champagne pyramid. A wave of dizziness slammed into her, black spots swarming her vision. She swayed and swung her arm back to catch her balance. The heavy metal microphone smashed into the bottom tier of glasses.

The glass shattered. The entire pyramid collapsed. Hundreds of crystal flutes crashed to the marble floor. Amber liquid splashed everywhere. The guests screamed and scrambled backward to avoid the flying shards.

Harrison stopped at the edge of the broken glass. He pointed a shaking finger at Amanda.

"You ungrateful bitch!" Harrison roared. "You ruined this family's reputation!"

Meredith stepped around Harrison. She did not yell. She walked straight up to Amanda, pulled her right arm back, and swung with all her body weight.

Smack.

The slap echoed over the sound of the breaking glass. The force of the blow snapped Amanda's head to the side. Five bright red finger marks instantly swelled on her pale cheek.

Amanda stumbled backward. Her teeth cut into the inside of her cheek. A thick drop of dark red blood leaked from the corner of her mouth and ran down her chin.

The ballroom went completely silent. Billie stopped fake-crying. Seraphina froze on the floor.

Amanda raised her hand and wiped the blood from her chin with the back of her thumb. She looked at the red smear on her skin. She slowly turned her head back to face her mother.

Amanda did not dig her nails into her palms. She did not hold back. She let out a low, dark laugh. The sound was hollow and completely insane. The fever was burning through her now, stripping away the last of her restraint.

Meredith's eyes widened in fury. She raised her hand to slap Amanda again.

Amanda's hand shot out. She grabbed Meredith's wrist mid-air. Her fingers locked onto the bone with a grip powered by nothing but adrenaline and spite. The effort made her whole arm tremble.

"This is the last time you ever touch me, Mrs. Rogers," Amanda said. Her voice was dead.

She shoved Meredith's arm away. Meredith stumbled backward into Harrison's chest.

Amanda turned her head. She locked her eyes on Billie, who was standing near the open French doors leading to the patio. Seraphina was crawling toward the same doors, trying to escape.

Amanda marched across the broken glass. Her black heels crunched over the crystal. Each step sent a fresh jolt of pain up her spine, the fever blurring the edges of her vision, but she did not stop.

Billie held up her hands. "Amanda, please calm down-"

Amanda lunged. She grabbed the collar of Billie's custom white gown with her left hand. She twisted the fabric tight, choking off Billie's words. The wound on her palm screamed in protest, hot and wet against the silk.

Seraphina tried to stand up and run. Amanda shot her right hand out and grabbed a massive handful of Seraphina's curled hair, ignoring the fresh sting where the earring post had pierced her skin.

Both women screamed.

Amanda did not say a word. She hauled them backward, stumbling under their combined weight, her fever-ravaged body running on nothing but rage. She pulled them through the French doors and out into the freezing winter night. The cold wind whipped her hair across her face and cut through her thin evening gown, shocking her burning skin.

"Let them go!" Julio yelled from inside. He and Donat—Amanda's older brother, who had been standing frozen near the bar since the chaos began—sprinted toward the doors.

Amanda ignored the heavy footsteps pounding behind her. Using the last reserves of her strength, she dragged the screaming women across the stone patio toward the edge of the massive, unheated outdoor swimming pool. The water was pitch black and freezing.

She reached the edge. Her knees buckled. Billie and Seraphina clawed at Amanda's hands, begging and crying.

Amanda lifted her right leg and drove her knee into Billie's stomach. At the exact same time, she ripped her right arm forward, hurling Seraphina over the water. The momentum tore her grip free, and she dropped to one knee on the freezing stone.

Two loud splashes shattered the quiet night.

Billie and Seraphina hit the freezing water. They thrashed and screamed, their heavy gowns pulling them under.

Amanda struggled back to her feet on the edge of the pool. The cold wind bit through her thin dress. She listened to the frantic footsteps of Julio and her brother rushing onto the patio.

She closed her eyes. She needed to know. She needed one final, physical proof that there was nothing left for her here.

Amanda spread her arms out to her sides. The torn skin of her palm stung in the icy air. She leaned backward and let gravity take her.

She fell backward off the edge of the concrete. The freezing, black water swallowed her whole.