But Sophia stopped them.
“Not yet.”
Everyone looked surprised.
Sophia turned toward Victoria.
“I could destroy everything tonight.”
She looked around at the guests.
“I could make everyone see you the way I saw you when I was standing here moments ago.”
Victoria lowered her eyes.
“But I won’t.”
Sophia walked closer.
“Because the truth is more powerful than revenge.”
For the first time, Victoria looked defeated.
But as Sophia turned away, Victoria whispered something that made Sophia stop.
“You still don’t know the entire story.”
Sophia slowly turned back.
“What did you say?”
Victoria looked up.
A small, mysterious smile appeared on her face.
“Your father did not disappear because of me.”
The ballroom became silent again.
Sophia stared at her.
“Then who was responsible?”
Victoria looked toward the entrance.
“There is someone else who has been watching this entire night.”
Everyone followed her eyes.
At the back of the ballroom stood a man wearing a dark suit.
A man Sophia had never seen before.
But her father recognized him immediately.
Thomas Bennett’s expression changed.
Fear appeared in his eyes.
“No…”
Sophia looked between them.
“Who is he?”
Her father said only one sentence.
“The man who made me disappear.”
The stranger slowly stepped forward.
The lights above the ballroom flickered.
And before anyone could move, he smiled and said:
“Twenty years ago, your father took something from me.”
He looked directly at Sophia.
“Tonight, I came to take it back.”
Sophia stood frozen.
Because she finally realized something terrifying.
The hotel was never the real secret.
Her father’s disappearance was.
And the man standing in front of her had just revealed that the truth was far more dangerous than she ever imagined.
