"So she's the Henson girl."
"Absolutely shameless."
"What does Stephens see in someone like that?"
Lavinia sobbed on stage, the picture of fragile innocence. "Please, Beatrice, I don't need the kidney anymore. Just don't make Mom and Dad angry..."
Curt Henson's voice boomed across the ballroom. "Security! Drag this ungrateful daughter to the operating room!"
A dozen bodyguards closed in at once.
Ivan's lips curved into a cold smile. He didn't say a word.
Black-clad bodyguards surged through the crowd behind him.
In under three minutes, every last one of the Henson security detail was on the ground, groaning in pain.
Ivan pulled out a small red booklet and flung it straight into Josephine's face.
Smack.
"Read it carefully. She is my lawfully wedded wife."
"Kidnapping Mrs. Stephens to harvest her kidney?" His voice dropped to a lethal register. "The Hensons have some nerve."
The entire ballroom went silent.
The steel seal on the marriage certificate was unmistakable.
Not a stand-in.
Not an impersonator.
Mrs. Stephens.
Murray staggered as though struck by lightning, unable to process what he was hearing. He lunged forward like a man unhinged.
"Liar! You're lying to me!"