Chapter 3 - The Cold Confrontation
Marcus Sterling walked across the marble floor with calculated confidence.
His expensive dress shoes clicked rhythmically against the stone.
He stopped a few feet away from Arthur.
"Arthur, thank goodness you are safe," Marcus said smoothly.
His voice carried a practiced tone of deep concern.
However, his eyes remained cold and calculating.
Maya watched his micro-expressions carefully.
She noticed the slight twitch at the corner of his mouth.
It was the subtle smirk of a man who thought he had already won.
Arthur stood incredibly still.
"You seem remarkably composed for a man whose boss just survived an assassination attempt," Arthur noted dryly.
Marcus chuckled softly, brushing a piece of invisible lint from his lapel.
"I am simply relieved that our security team did their job," Marcus replied.
Evelyn suddenly pointed a shaking finger directly at Marcus.
"It was him!" she screamed, her voice echoing off the high ceilings.
"He is the one who gave me the vial!"
Marcus slowly turned his head to look at Evelyn.
He offered her a look of profound, patronizing pity.
"Evelyn, please," Marcus sighed heavily.
"You are clearly hysterical and desperately looking for a scapegoat."
He looked back at Arthur with a raised eyebrow.
"Are we really going to trust the word of a woman caught poisoning your drink?" Marcus asked.
Maya stepped forward, smoothly blocking Marcus's line of sight to Arthur.
"We do not have to trust her word," Maya stated firmly.
She tapped her smartwatch again.
"I have the hotel's entire encrypted security network backed up to my personal server."
Marcus’s confident smile finally faltered.
The smugness in his eyes flickered into genuine apprehension.
May you like
"That includes the audio feeds from your private suite upstairs," Maya added.
Maya knew she had just trapped him in his own web of lies.
