Chapter 7 - Ashes and Iron
Six months later.
The St. Regis ballroom was empty.
The memory of the shattered floral wall was now an infamous urban legend among the city's elite.
Inside the sterile walls of the state penitentiary, Vanessa sat in an orange jumpsuit.
The bruises on her jaw from Arthur’s strike had long faded, but the humiliation was permanent.
The viral footage of her being dragged, bloodied and screaming, from her own wedding had played on every news channel in the country.
She was facing life in prison without the possibility of parole for attempted murder, kidnapping, and extortion.
The heavy steel door of the visitation room clanked open.
Vanessa looked up, her eyes widening.
Eleanor stood there.
She wasn't the broken, suffocating woman in the wall.
She was dressed in a razor-sharp emerald pantsuit, her hair perfectly styled.
She radiated an aura of untouchable power.
Arthur stood slightly behind her, his hand resting protectively on his wife's waist.
His gaze was cold and indifferent.
Vanessa swallowed hard, gripping the edges of the metal table.
"Did you come to gloat, Ellie?" she spat, though her voice trembled.
Eleanor walked slowly to the glass partition.
She didn't sit down.
She simply looked at the woman who had tried to steal her life.
Her eyes were filled not with anger, but with absolute pity.
"I didn't come to gloat, Vanessa," Eleanor said, her voice smooth and steady.
"I came to deliver a message."
Eleanor placed a small, beautifully embossed envelope against the glass.
It was an invitation.
"Arthur and I are renewing our vows next month," Eleanor said softly.
A devastating smile touched her lips.
"I wanted you to know that the floral arrangements will be spectacular."
She paused, letting the words sink in.
"And this time... there will be no empty seats."
Arthur didn't say a word.
May you like
He simply turned, taking Eleanor’s hand, and walked her out of the prison.
He left Vanessa screaming in the silence of her cage, utterly forgotten by the world she had tried to conquer.
