Chapter 4 - The Projection
The romantic jazz music cut out with a harsh, electrical screech.
The massive LED screen behind Julian and Chloe, which had been displaying a looping video of their engagement photos, suddenly went black.
Julian frowned, tapping the microphone. "Hello? AV team, get that fixed."
The screen flickered back to life. But it wasn't a photo of Chloe and Julian. It was a scanned, highly confidential medical document from the renowned Chicago Fertility Institute.
The date on the document was from four years ago.
At the top, highlighted in bright yellow, was Julian’s name.
The room went dead silent as the guests, heavily populated by highly educated socialites and corporate executives, easily read the diagnosis plastered in bold, unmistakable letters across a 20-foot screen:
PATIENT DIAGNOSIS: NON-OBSTRUCTIVE AZOOSPERMIA. SPERM COUNT: ZERO. PROGNOSIS: IRREVERSIBLE MALE FACTOR INFERTILITY. BIOLOGICAL REPRODUCTION IMPOSSIBLE.
A collective, echoing gasp ripped through the marquee.
Julian spun around to look at the screen. The glass of champagne in his hand slipped, crashing to the floor. "Turn it off!" he screamed, his voice cracking with panic. "Turn that off right now! It’s fake! It’s a lie!"
"It’s not a lie, Julian," my voice carried clearly across the silent room. I didn't need a microphone.
All eyes snapped to me.
"You hid your medical files in an offshore encrypted server," I continued, stepping out from behind my table. "You let your mother abuse me. You let your friends pity me. You dragged me to specialists and forced me to undergo grueling, painful hormone treatments, knowing damn well that you were the one shooting blanks."
"Shut up! Security! Throw her out!" Julian shrieked, his face turning a dangerous shade of purple.
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But the security guards didn't move. Sebastian had already bought out the head of the security firm an hour before we arrived.
"He knew," I said, turning to the crowd, looking directly at his horrified mother. "He knew he was sterile. And he let you tear me apart anyway to protect his fragile ego."
