Chapter 13 - The Press Conference
For years, Marcus controlled the narrative by remaining eerily calm while he pushed me to the brink of hysteria. Outsiders mistook his coldness for rationality. But the leaked reports of the courthouse attack broke his composure. Desperate, Marcus held a press conference outside Hale Communities’ glass headquarters. He wore his tailored suit and his best aggrieved smile, claiming my family was exploiting judicial connections to ruin him. Then, a seasoned reporter shouted from the back: “Mr. Hale, if this is a smear campaign, why did you tell the bailiff your wife tripped when multiple security cameras show your employee physically assaulting her?” Marcus’s face contorted. The mask slipped. He snapped at the press, accusing the reporter of bias, blaming Dana for provoking Vanessa, and sweating under the flashbulbs. In twenty minutes, the entire world saw the real Marcus Hale: a fragile, raging narcissist cornered by the truth.
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