Chapter 16 - The Media Storm
By sunrise, the story had detonated across national headlines. Financial networks ran endless loops of the story: the stock market crash of Fairchild Meridian, the dramatic FBI raid, and the three-million-dollar diamond resting at the bottom of the Chicago River. One headline dubbed Nora "the bride who brought down an empire."
Ophelia hired the most expensive defense team in the country. From her penthouse, she gave televised interviews in ivory silk, accusing Nora of corporate espionage and emotional manipulation. "She betrayed a family that welcomed her," Ophelia declared to the cameras. Nora’s response was swift and devastating, delivered via a single, written statement to the press: “A family that requires silence in the face of crime is not welcoming. It is recruiting.” Public opinion shifted instantly. Employees, dock workers, and defrauded contractors began coming forward by the dozens.
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