CHAPTER SEVENTY TWO – FLIPPING THE SCRIPT

Madison smoothed one palm over the linen tablecloth, undeterred as the tension in the room went FROM taut to utterly suffocating. "While you whiled away hung-over mornings recovering from in Cannes or Dubai, I was pouring every ounce of my energy into building a business from the ground up with nothing more than an insatiable work ethic and the shirt on my back." Her eyes drilled into Marcus's now, glittering with quiet contempt of her own. "Need I go on listing the achievements that give me the sheer 'audacity' to assume I'm deserving of your golden boy's attention? Or would you prefer I simply encapsulate it all by pointing out that I've become just as ludicrously wealthy as your vaunted clan through my own merit, not coasting on any family trust funds like most of you?" There was a pregnant pause, punctuated only by the clinking of a fork slipping from one of the servants' hands as he gaped openly at Madison's brazen statements. Marcus, for his part, appeared utterly