Natalie Pierce felt a surge of raw, untamed fury boil within her. The air crackled with tension as she brought her hand up, not in a gentle warning, but in a decisive, heavy arc that sliced through the charged atmosphere.
"SMACK!"
The sound reverberated sharply through the elegant corporate lobby of Fateful Beauty Entertainment. Caught completely off guard, Elsie Pierce reeled back, a stark, red handprint blooming vividly across her heavily made-up face. The perfect mask of her triumphant sneer shattered instantly, replaced by a contorted expression of shock and pain.
"You... you dared to hit me?!" Elsie Pierce shrieked, her eyes widening in disbelief, a venomous rage quickly replacing her initial shock. She instinctively moved to retaliate, her hand already raising to strike back.
But
