Chapter 33: A Mother’s Undoing
The sky was an unforgiving shade of steel gray when Victoria George stepped from her car and into the pounding rain outside the courthouse. Thunder grumbled overhead like judgment itself, and the rain fell with purpose, drenching the air in something that felt more like reckoning than weather.
Umbrellas burst open like wings among the clustered paparazzi. Cameras snapped like angry insects. The sidewalks were jammed with journalists and spectators, their lenses sharp and ruthless. Victoria kept her chin high, but there was no hiding the tension in her posture.
Gone were the signature pearls and the sculpted smile.
She wore a slate-gray suit, understated and unembellished. Her hair was pulled into a severe bun, and her pale face was devoid of its usual polish. She didn’t look like the queen of society anymore.
She looked like a woman finally facing the consequences of her reign.
Inside the courtroom, the air was taut with curiosity and anticipation.
Every
