The grand ballroom of the Royal Crystal Hotel remained completely silent for three painful seconds.
Then, a massive explosion of loud voices and chaotic shouting filled the entire giant room.
The five hundred wealthy guests, elite billionaires, and high-society politicians dropped their expensive champagne glasses onto the polished marble floor.
The fragile glass shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces, but no one cared about the broken glass.
Everyone was looking up at the grand VIP balcony on the second floor.
Richard Ross stood at the gold balcony railing, holding his second silver microphone tightly.
His face was twisted into a greedy, triumphant smile.
In his right hand, Richard Ross shook the thick legal document with the large official gold seal.
Julian Sterling stood right next to Richard Ross.
Julian Sterling crossed his arms over his sharp grey tuxedo.
Julian Sterling looked down at Damien Vance and Evelyn Vance with deep, mocking pleasure.
Julian Sterling believed that his clever trap had worked perfectly.
Richard Ross shouted into his microphone again, his loud voice echoing through the large ballroom speakers.
Richard Ross said to the crowd, “Look at them!
Damien Vance thinks he can use his multi-billion dollar wealth to steal my stepdaughter!
Damien Vance thinks he can take the Ross family land by forcing this poor girl into a fake marriage!
But I am her legal guardian!
I filed an official emergency court injunction at exactly six o’clock tonight!
This marriage certificate is a total fraud!
Evelyn Ross is still under my legal control!”
The wealthy guests began to whisper to each other rapidly.
They shook their heads with deep disapproval.
They looked at Evelyn Vance with cold, critical eyes.
Evelyn Vance felt the warm color leave her face completely.
Her pale cheeks became as white as a sheet of paper.
Her small hands grew incredibly cold.
She looked down at the massive platinum ring with the giant square diamond on her left finger.
Was her protection truly gone?
Was she still trapped under the cruel thumbs of her greedy stepfather and Julian Sterling?
Evelyn Vance began to tremble.
But suddenly, she felt a powerful, warm pressure around her waist.
Damien Vance reached out his big right hand and held Evelyn Vance firmly against his side.
His strong grip was warm, steady, and completely unshakeable.
Damien Vance did not look up at the balcony.
Damien Vance did not yell back at Richard Ross.
Damien Vance stood in the center of the grand ballroom like an immovable mountain of pure steel.
Damien Vance looked at the frantic crowd of guests.
Then, Damien Vance raised his left hand and snapped his big fingers together one time.
Snap!
The sharp sound echoed clearly through the silent room.
Suddenly, the large double doors of the grand ballroom opened wide.
Lawyer Vance Jenkins walked into the center of the room with fast, confident steps.
Lawyer Vance Jenkins wore his neat dark suit and held a sleek, wireless electronic tablet in his hands.
Lawyer Vance Jenkins walked straight toward the main stage of the ballroom.
Lawyer Vance Jenkins connected his wireless electronic tablet to the hotel’s main computer system.
Beep!
The giant screens no longer showed the logo of the corporate gala.
Instead, the screens showed a massive, high-definition digital image of the official marriage certificate of Damien Vance and Evelyn Vance.
Damien Vance looked up at the VIP balcony.
His dark eyes locked onto Julian Sterling’s face with a deadly, piercing glare.
Damien Vance spoke in a calm, cold, and incredibly powerful voice that did not need a microphone to be heard by everyone.
Damien Vance said, “Richard Ross, you are an idiot.
And Julian Sterling, you are a fool.”
Lawyer Vance Jenkins stepped forward and pointed his hand at the giant projector screens.
Lawyer Vance Jenkins said to the five hundred guests, “Please look at the official digital time-stamps on the monitor screens.
My client, Mr.
Damien Vance, and Miss Evelyn Ross were legally married at City Hall this morning.
The government official, Clerk Peterson, stamped the document at exactly eight o’clock and one minute in the morning.
Evelyn Ross became legally named Evelyn Vance at eight-point-zero-one AM.”
Lawyer Vance Jenkins turned his body to face the VIP balcony.
Lawyer Vance Jenkins continued speaking loudly, “Richard Ross claims he filed an emergency court injunction at six o’clock tonight.
But by the supreme law of this city, a court injunction cannot freeze or cancel a legal marriage that already exists!
You cannot stop a wedding that happened ten hours ago!
Richard Ross’s document is completely void and useless!”
The wealthy guests inside the ballroom gasped loudly.
The whispers changed direction instantly.
The guests began to look at Richard Ross with deep ridicule and amusement.
But Lawyer Vance Jenkins was not finished yet.
Lawyer Vance Jenkins tapped the screen of his electronic tablet one more time.
The image of the marriage certificate disappeared from the giant projector screens.
A new official document appeared on the monitors.
It was a formal police document bearing the heavy blue stamp of the City Police Department.
At the top of the page, there were bold letters that read: “OFFICIAL ARREST WARRANT AND STRIPPING OF GUARDIANSHIP.”
Lawyer Vance Jenkins said, “Furthermore, at exactly nine o’clock this morning, Chief Gordon of the City Police Department arrested Richard Ross at the gates of the Vance estate for filing a false police report and attempting extortion.
Because of his criminal arrest, Chief Gordon signed an emergency legal decree at exactly twelve o’clock noon today.
This legal decree stripped Richard Ross of all his legal rights as a guardian over Evelyn Vance.
Richard Ross has no legal relation to my client’s wife anymore!
His court injunction is an illegal piece of trash!”
The entire grand ballroom exploded into massive laughter.
The elite guests pointed their fingers at the VIP balcony.
They laughed loudly at Richard Ross’s complete humiliation.
Richard Ross’s face turned from a triumphant smile to a dark, angry purple.
His hands shook so violently that the heavy gold pen and his thick legal papers slipped out of his fingers.
The papers fluttered down from the high balcony like useless pieces of white snow, landing in the dirt of the ballroom floor.
Richard Ross collapsed backward into a plush chair on the balcony, breathing heavily in total panic.
His public attack was completely destroyed.
Julian Sterling stood at the balcony railing.
His cruel smile had disappeared completely.
His jaw was clenched so tightly that the bones in his face showed through his skin.
Julian Sterling looked at Damien Vance with absolute, burning hatred.
Julian Sterling raised his right hand.
He was holding a small, black electronic remote control with a single red button in the center.
Julian Sterling spoke into his silver microphone once again.
His voice was no longer calm.
His voice was raspy, dangerous, and desperate.
Julian Sterling said down to Damien Vance, “You think you are so smart, Damien Vance.
You think your expensive lawyers can win every single battle with piece-of-paper laws.
But you are too late to save the Ross family secret.”
Julian Sterling pressed the red button on the small black remote control.
Instantly, the giant projector screens on the ballroom walls changed once again.
The police documents disappeared.
A live, streaming video feed appeared on the screens.
Evelyn Vance looked at the live video feed and felt her heart stop beating.
The live video showed the dark, empty landscape of the old Ross family estate.
The moon was shining down on the quiet soil where her childhood home used to stand.
But the estate was no longer quiet.
Massive, heavy yellow bulldozers and giant industrial drilling machines were driving across the property.
The heavy vehicles had large black letters painted on the sides that read: “STERLING GLOBAL.”
The heavy yellow bulldozers were tearing up the green grass with great force.
The giant drilling machines were pushing massive, spinning metal drills deep into the dark earth of her mother’s land.
Julian Sterling was illegally destroying the property in the dark of night to find the buried secrets.
Julian Sterling laughed loudly into his microphone.
Julian Sterling shouted, “While you were busy getting married and dressing your new wife in expensive crimson silk, my heavy machinery was already digging up the Ross estate!
The land is being torn apart right now!
Whatever your mother hid under the dirt belongs to me now, Evelyn Vance!”
Suddenly, on the live video screen, the giant spinning metal drill hit something incredibly hard deep underneath the dark soil.
A terrifying, loud, and metallic grinding sound echoed violently through the large speakers of the grand ballroom.
SKRRRRT!
The loud noise was so sharp and piercing that many guests covered their ears with their hands.
On the video monitor, the giant industrial drilling machine shook wildly from side to side.
The heavy steel drill snapped completely in half with a loud bang.
Then, something unbelievable happened on the live camera feed.
From the deep hole in the broken earth, a bright, glowing green chemical light shot straight up into the dark night sky like a powerful laser beam.
The strange green light lit up the entire video screen with a eerie, radioactive glow.
The industrial workers on the screen began to scream in terror, running away from the glowing green hole in the ground.
Julian Sterling stared at the live video screen from his VIP balcony.
His eyes widened in pure, unadulterated shock.
He did not know what his drills had just uncovered.
Evelyn Vance looked at the glowing green light on the monitor.
Her heart pounded against her chest.
Damien Vance stared at the glowing screen.
His dark eyes narrowed into sharp, intense slits of deep focus.
He knew that the real battle for the Ross family secret had just officially begun.
Suddenly, the live video feed cut out completely.
The giant projector screens turned to absolute pitch-black darkness.