“I’m not marrying the daughter of a gardener!” my fiancé shouted before walking away from the altar in front of 120 guests. I hugged my father as he apologized through tears, but I said nothing. Minutes later, an Army commander walked in, saluted him with full military honors, and revealed a secret that would destroy my ex-fiancé’s life the very next day.

"Step away from that computer right now, Maisie," Tristan demanded, dropping his glasses of whiskey onto the carpet.

I completely ignored him, keeping my eyes glued to the loading bar on the bright screen.

"Ninety-five percent, Carter, I need a distraction right now!" I whispered frantically into my hidden earpiece.

Tristan lunged across the room, his face twisted in ugly rage as he reached for my throat.

I violently shoved a heavy rolling chair directly into his path, sending him crashing hard into a metal server rack.

The terminal softly beeped, signaling that the download was completely finished.

I snatched the flash drive from the port and firmly gripped it in my sweaty palm.

Tristan quickly recovered, pulling a small silver handgun from the inside pocket of his tailored suit jacket.

"You are not leaving this room alive with my property," he spat, aiming the weapon unsteadily at my chest.

Suddenly, the mansion's fire alarm began shrieking deafeningly, and the emergency sprinkler system violently burst to life.

Freezing water rained down on us, blinding Tristan for just a crucial fraction of a second.

Carter had remotely triggered the system to create the exact chaos I needed to escape.

I blindly grabbed a heavy metal keyboard and swung it as hard as I could, striking Tristan squarely in the jaw.

He dropped the gun with a painful yell, and I sprinted out of the freezing room into the flooded hallway.

The entire party was in a state of absolute panic as wealthy guests pushed and shoved each other toward the exits.

I easily slipped through the frantic crowd, running straight into the cold night air where Carter's car was already waiting.

"I got the files, let's get back to the hospital immediately!" I yelled, throwing myself into the passenger seat.

Carter hit the gas, and we sped aggressively through the dark city streets, safely securing our crucial evidence.

When we finally arrived back at the secure medical wing of Vanguard Defense, I felt a massive surge of relief.

We were finally going to legally destroy Tristan and save my father's hard-earned legacy.

I burst through the double doors of my father's private ICU room, ready to tell him we had won.

“Which daughter is yours?” should have been a harmless question

The first wineglass shattered at 8:07 p.m

The moment the mafia boss’s wife called me “an illiterate servant,”

But I dropped the flash drive onto the sterile floor in total shock.

The heart monitor was completely turned off, and my father's hospital bed was entirely empty.

Chapter 7 - The Escape