Livestreaming My Cheating Billionaire Husband

7

Jasmine

“To think an accolade of this caliber is being handed to a girl who probably slept her way to the top,” Eleanor scoffed. “Who even knows the truth? Mr. Vance may not even be her biological father. For all we know, she might just be his secret little mistress who has finally decided to crawl out of hiding to claim a fortune she didn’t earn.”

A collective, horrified gasp rippled through the hundreds of high-society guests in the hall. The event coordinators panicked, frantically gesturing to the tech booth to cut the microphone, but Eleanor was adamant. She leaned in closer, speaking over the static as she scrambled to say everything she wanted to say before they could silence her.

I stood completely rooted to the floor, my face burning with a mix of intense humiliation and rage. The blinding flashbulbs of a dozen paparazzi cameras clicked rapidly in my direction, capturing every stage of my shock.

Marcus, my head of security, stepped past me, a stern look on his face.

“I’ll handle this, Miss Vance,” he murmured shortly.

He marched up the stairs to the stage, calmly but firmly stepping between Eleanor and the microphone.

“Ma’am, you need to step down and leave the stage immediately,” Marcus instructed, his voice low and unwavering.

Eleanor dug her heels in, refusing to move an inch. Seeing the intervention, Jason and Victoria immediately rushed up the stage stairs, flanking Eleanor like a pack of defensive wolves. They stepped right into Marcus’s space, their eyes flashing with fury.

“Who are you?!” Jason demanded loudly, his voice piercing the room's tense silence as he stared down my bodyguard. “Why do you think you can speak to anyone in this manner? Do you even know who the Sterlings are? We’d crush you like a bug under our feet!”

Victoria turned toward the whispering crowd, throwing her hands up in a grand, melodramatic display.

“No one these days has any manners! Can just any piece of trash walk into a respectable event like this and address a patron? What has happened to basic decorum?!”

Jason stepped forward next, throwing his physical weight into the argument as he came to his stepmother’s defense.

“Get away from her,” he barked at Marcus. “You don’t talk to a member of my family like that. Step back right now.”

Down on the ballroom floor, my mind was running a thousand miles an hour. Hot, stinging tears welled up in the corners of my eyes. I blinked repeatedly, fighting them back.

Laura had come to stand quietly beside me.

“Who owns this hall?” I whispered rapidly.

Laura blinked, completely blanking for a second.

“Uh... the Vanderbilt family, I believe.”

“Do you think they’d like to sell?” I cut in.

“What?” Laura gasped.

“Do they want to sell, Laura?” I repeated, my lips quivering, though my eyes were locked onto the group and the spectacle they were creating on the stage.

“I... I don’t know,” Laura rambled nervously. “It’s been in their family for—”

I turned to her, a cold, sudden smile breaking across my face.

“Well, we would never know if we don’t ask them, would we? Where are they?”

I didn’t wait for an answer. I scanned the room, spotted the elderly Vanderbilt patriarch and his wife standing near the VIP tables, and walked straight toward them.

“Mr. Vanderbilt,” I said, stepping into their space. “I heard you are the owners of this grand hall we are standing in today, and I was wondering if you’d like to sell... right now,” I added for emphasis.

The man’s eyes went wide in shock, and his wife looked completely stunned.

The man let out a dry, nervous chuckle. “Miss Vance... regarding the hall, I don’t think we could ever—”

“Name your price.”

He stopped mid-sentence, his jaw tightening.

In my head, I knew exactly what I was doing. Almost every person in this room was desperate to get into the good graces of Vance Global. Refusing me right now, under the gaze of the entire elite class, was a risk he couldn’t afford.

I looked around the sweeping venue, squinting slightly as I took in the architectural details.

“It is a really solid building. Let’s say the current market value is forty million dollars.”

I paused, tilting my head.

“I’ll add an additional ten million, considering it has been in your family for... how long, Laura?”

“Forty-four years,” Laura chirped automatically.

My eyes lit up, and I gave her a quick glance.

“Wow, you’re good.”

“I looked it up just now,” she whispered sheepishly.

“And,” I continued, turning back to the breathless couple, “I will add another ten million dollars for the suddenness of the business deal. Sixty million dollars. Cash. Transferred tonight.”

Laura’s eyes were practically popping out of her head. The Vanderbilts stood completely frozen, their mouths hanging open.

Behind me, Eleanor’s voice was still screeching through the speakers, howling profanities and dragging my father’s memory through the mud.

“Hurry,” I urged, my voice dropping to a dangerously quiet whisper as I checked my watch. “Time is ticking. I don’t have all night.”

The wife eagerly nudged her husband’s arm, her eyes wide with greed.

The old man swallowed hard, his voice faint.

“Yes. Yes, Miss Vance. We accept.”

I turned around, the cold smile fully returning to my lips.

“Laura, do it. Wire the funds immediately.”

Without waiting for the paperwork, I turned on my heel and walked directly toward the stage, the crowd parting for me like the Red Sea.

I stepped up the stairs, took a secondary microphone from a stunned coordinator, and tapped it twice. The feedback echoed through the room, cutting Eleanor off mid-sentence.

“I own this hall,” I announced, my voice echoing flawlessly across the ballroom, projecting absolute, terrifying authority.

I stopped walking, standing just a few feet away from the three of them. I looked directly into Eleanor’s panicked eyes, then shifted my gaze to Jason’s horrified face.

“Eleanor Sterling,” I said, my voice cutting through the dead silence of the room. “I don’t want you on my property anymore. Leave.”