Marcus rose slowly from Isabelle's side, his expression hardening into something far more dangerous than the panic he had displayed only moments earlier. "What did you do?" he demanded, his voice low and trembling with barely controlled fury as he stared directly at Vanessa.
"This is not what you think," Vanessa pleaded desperately, taking a hesitant step backward as Marcus advanced toward her, his fists clenched tightly at his sides. "She said something to me, and I just reacted, I didn't mean for this to happen."
Marcus's expression remained unforgiving, his eyes flicking briefly toward Isabelle's motionless form still lying amid the shattered glass before returning to Vanessa with renewed, unmistakable fury. "You pushed her into a mirror," he said, his voice rising sharply, "and now she's lying here bleeding."
Guests throughout the foyer remained frozen, watching the confrontation unfold with a mixture of horror and disbelief, several already whispering urgently among themselves about the shocking violence they had just witnessed unfold at what was supposed to be a joyful celebration.
"OUT!" Marcus finally shouted, his voice echoing sharply through the stunned foyer, leaving absolutely no room for further argument or explanation. Vanessa flinched visibly at the intensity of his command, her earlier desperate pleading replaced by dawning, humiliated realization that whatever relationship she had once shared with Marcus was now irreparably shattered.