Maddison's POV
The quietness in the hall had felt like a bomb that had already gone off and the sight on the big screen was the bullet that was tearing her life apart. Every face in the room became a weapon, and there was only one victim.
The moment the fake image was shown on the screen, the world seemed to have come to an end. The photograph; a public shame and private lie, burned itself into Maddison's eyes. For a moment of pure fear, the only sound in the huge ballroom was the loud, scared beating of her own heart in her head. The excitement she'd felt just moments before on the balcony turned sour. This was not a scandal, it was an attack. Her good name, her job, her worried sense of self; these were all being ripped apart before the city's most powerful people, and she held on to t
