His Lesson Killed My Mother Now He Will Pay Chapter 15
I wiped the scuff mark from the locket and wound the broken chain around my palm.
Sloane raised the microphone again, smiling gently. “This is exactly the kind of behavior commonly seen in someone with crisis addiction—”
The side door of the hall flew open.
A man in a dark suit carrying a document case strode in. Security moved to block him, but he flashed his credentials.
“Court courier.”
He walked straight down the aisle and stopped at the foot of the stage.
Sloane’s voice died in her throat.
The man surveyed the hall. “Which one of you is Ms. Nora Reyes?”
Hundreds of heads swiveled toward me.
I raised my hand.
“I am.”
He approached, removed a stamped document from his case, and presented it to me with both hands.
“Ms. Reyes, this is the official copy of your mother Elena Reyes’s death certificate. Please sign for receipt.”
The words *death certificate* carried over the microphone, silencing the hall.
The audience went still.
The livestream comments froze for a few seconds, then exploded.
*Her mother really died?*
*Didn’t he just say she was perfectly fine?*
The smile on Graham’s face was frozen in place.
He stared at my mother’s name and date of death on the document, and the color drained from his face. The hand he’d used to block me remained suspended in midair.
But the courier didn’t leave.
He took out a second document and turned to face the room.
“According to another document we are serving tonight—the emergency evacuation provider’s records—the emergency contact listed on the evacuation request was Mr. Graham Vale.”
Under the lights, Graham took an instinctive step back.
The courier raised his voice. “Is Mr. Graham Vale present?”
No one answered.
Every camera in the room turned toward him.
Sloane reached to cut the mic, but the courier spoke again, his words sharp and precise.
“The emergency contact listed on this evacuation request was Mr. Graham Vale.”
“Is Mr. Graham Vale present?”