Chapter 13 - The Glitch in the EmpirePanicked murmurs exploded across the ballroom. Melissa’s face drained of all color, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the podium.
"Security!" Melissa screamed into the microphone, her voice shrill and trembling. "Remove this crazy woman immediately!"
Two resort security officers moved toward me, but David Vance and Assistant DA Elena Ruiz stepped into the ballroom right behind me, flanked by four uniformed Phoenix Police officers.
"Nobody touches her," Elena Ruiz announced loudly, holding up a federal judicial warrant. "By order of the Maricopa County Superior Court and the Federal Building Safety Administration, all Harrington Construction assets are officially frozen pending an emergency structural collapse investigation."
A collective gasp echoed through the elite crowd.
Behind me, Marcus hit Send on the tablet.
The giant projector screens behind Melissa—which had been displaying luxurious rendering images of the Harrington developments—suddenly flickered and changed.
Across the 30-foot screens, raw diagnostic logs flashed, followed by a crystal-clear wiretap video recorded three days prior.
On screen, Melissa Harrington was sitting in her office, talking to Uncle Richard:
Melissa's voice: "I don't care if the concrete is substandard, Richard! If we delay the build, the bank pulls the loan. Burn the Mesa shop down if you have to, just get those damn sensors offline!"
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The room erupted into absolute chaos. Billionaire donors stood up in horror. Board members stared in disgust. Reporters from local news networks who were covering the charity event immediately raised their cameras, broadcasting the wiretap live to two million homes across Arizona.
Melissa staggered back, knocking over her champagne glass, which shattered on the hardwood stage.
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