Chapter 5
David’s breath caught in his throat. "Ms... Ms. who?"
The double oak doors of the ballroom swung wide open.
A tall, distinguished man of fifty-five in a bespoke three-piece charcoal suit walked into the room, flanked by two uniformed police officers and a woman carrying an embossed leather briefcase.
Carter Vance. Managing partner of Vance & Sterling, the most feared private wealth litigation firm on the eastern seaboard.
"Carter," Laura said, releasing Evelyn’s wrist. Evelyn collapsed back onto the floor, clutching her arm, moaning in theatrical agony.
"I apologize for the delay, Laura," Carter Vance said, his cultured American voice carrying effortlessly across the silent room. "The forensic audit on the joint accounts took slightly longer than anticipated. However, the emergency injunction has been granted by Judge Thornton."
David backed away, his heels hitting the bridal table. "Injunction? What injunction? I’m her legal husband! We share community property under state law!"
"You signed a prenuptial agreement on October twelfth, Mr. Bennett," Carter Vance replied, pulling a blue-backed legal document from his briefcase. "An agreement that explicitly stipulates that any commingling of trust assets through fraudulent representation constitutes an immediate nullification of all spousal claims, accompanied by a full forfeiture of marital residency rights."
"That prenup was signed under duress!" Evelyn shrieked from the floor. "My son was coerced! He loved her! He gave her his name!"
"His name is worth negative four million dollars, Mrs. Bennett," Carter Vance said with cutting precision. "Furthermore, the forensic team discovered that Mr. Bennett forged Laura’s signature on seven separate corporate credit applications, including the primary merchant guarantee for this very establishment."
Brenda turned on her brother, her eyes wide with hysterical terror. "David... did you forge her name for my wedding?"
"Brenda, be quiet!" David shouted, his hands shaking violently as he smoothed his hair. "I was doing it for us! I was trying to keep our standing in this city! Once the development deal in New Jersey cleared, I was going to replace every single cent!"
"There was no development deal, was there, David?" Mark Collins asked, his face pale with cold fury. "You used my firm's letterhead to solicit private equity from my father's partners, didn't you?"
David swallowed hard, unable to meet Mark’s eyes. "Mark, listen to me, we can still close that round—"
"You forged my firm's documentation?" Mark roared, stepping forward until his fist was clenched inches from David’s nose. "You brought criminal liability into my family's business on the day I was supposed to marry your sister?"
"Mark, please don't yell at him!" Brenda wailed, trying to push herself between them. "He did it for my happiness! He wanted me to have the wedding I deserved!"
"You deserved a wedding you could afford!" Laura shouted, her voice slicing through the chaos. "Instead, you built your fairy tale on my son’s stolen future! You sat at the tasting sessions ordering beluga caviar while Leo was wearing hand-me-down shoes with holes in the soles because David told me our card had been compromised!"
Leo looked up at his mother, his little hand reaching up to wipe a stray tear from her cheek. "Mommy, don't cry. I don't need the cupcake. We can go home."
Laura’s heart shattered into a thousand pieces. She picked Leo up, holding him against her hip, kissing his swollen temple.
"We are going home, baby," Laura whispered. "To our real home. Where no one will ever hurt you again."
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"She isn't taking that boy anywhere!" Evelyn yelled, scrambling to her feet with the help of a chair. "David is his father! You can't take a child from his father without a custody order!"
"Officer Daniels," Carter Vance said calmly, gesturing toward the two police officers standing at his side. "Please execute the emergency protective order issued by the family court twenty minutes ago."
