Chapter 6
Sebastian took the smartphone from Noah's trembling hands. He didn't immediately look at the screen. Instead, he smoothly checked the knuckles of his right hand, wiping a small smear of icing from his signet ring before turning his attention to the device.
The screen was chaotic. The chat was a blur of rapid-fire text, emojis, and exclamations, scrolling so fast it was barely readable. The viewer count at the top right corner of the screen was skyrocketing by the second, leaping from five thousand to eight thousand, and climbing rapidly toward ten. The world was watching.
"Oh God," Natalie whispered, her voice cracking as she finally found her words. She took a hesitant step forward, her hands shaking uncontrollably. "Sebastian... please. You have to turn it off. You have to tell them it was a misunderstanding. Tell them it was a joke. Something!"
Sebastian slowly lifted his gaze from the glowing screen and turned toward his wife. The man who had vowed to love and protect her was entirely gone, replaced by a cold, calculating stranger.
"A joke?" Sebastian asked softly. He held the phone up so the camera was aimed perfectly at her pale, terrified face. "You want me to tell them it’s a joke that you abuse a three-year-old child because she was too tired to smile for your vanity project?"
"I didn't mean to!" Natalie pleaded, tears finally spilling over her eyelashes, ruining her perfect makeup. "I'm hormonal, Sebastian! The pregnancy... I'm stressed! You know I didn't mean to hit her that hard! Please, turn it off!"
"The internet doesn't care about your hormones, Natalie," Sebastian replied, his tone as unforgiving as ice. "They care about what they saw."
"Sebastian, stop this madness!" Victor barked, stepping forward, trying to block the camera's view of his daughter. "This is family business. Shut that damn phone off right now, or I swear to God—"
"Or you'll what, Victor?" Sebastian cut him off, his voice dropping an octave, radiating pure, lethal intent. "You'll end up on the floor next to your son? Step back. You don't give orders in my house."
Victor hesitated, looking from Sebastian’s cold eyes to Ethan, who was still groaning weakly amidst the ruined dessert cart. Swallowing his pride, Victor slowly took a step back.
Sebastian locked his dark, piercing eyes onto Natalie. She was trembling visibly now, the reality of her shattered social standing and the terrifying wrath of her husband crashing down upon her simultaneously.
"You wanted an audience, Natalie?" Sebastian said, his voice quiet, lethal, and perfectly captured by the phone's microphone. "You wanted everyone to see the perfect Whitmore family?"
Natalie shook her head frantically, too frightened to speak.
"Well, you have their attention now," Sebastian whispered. "Let them watch you get dragged out."
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Natalie’s face morphed into absolute, unadulterated terror.
"Cut the feed," Sebastian muttered, and with a swift tap of his thumb, the screen went dark.
