Chapter 5
Derek froze, the absolute certainty in Vesper's voice halting his advance. He looked around the room. Half the guests had already fled toward the foyer; the other half were staring at him in paralyzed horror. He realized, with a sickening drop in his stomach, that the pristine image of the Bennett family had just been permanently obliterated.
"You think this is a game?" Derek hissed, stepping closer to Vesper, lowering his voice into a cold, threatening whisper meant only for her. "You think your father's lawyers can save you from this? We have the prenuptial agreement, Vesper. My mother holds the primary deed to the trust."
"Your mother holds nothing but a delusion," Vesper replied, her breathing heavy but steady.
"Sign the documents," Derek demanded, pointing a trembling finger toward the manila envelope still resting on the dining table near Martha's purse. "Sign the transfer of your grandfather's estate over to the Bennett holding company right now. We will call it an accident. We will let you walk away with joint custody."
"And if I don't?" Vesper asked, lifting her chin.
Derek’s eyes darkened into a lifeless, cruel abyss. "Sign. Or Nash sleeps out. I will lock you out of the accounts tonight. You will be on the street without a dime, and I will tie you up in court until you are begging to see him on weekends."
Vesper stared at the man she had married. The man who had promised to protect her, the man who was now threatening to render her child homeless for a portfolio of commercial real estate.
Without a word, Vesper darted past him. She crossed the dining room in three rapid strides and snatched the sealed manila envelope from the table before Derek could even react.
"Give that back!" Derek shouted, lunging after her.
Vesper tore the thick paper open with a violent rip. Heavy, legal property-transfer documents slid partly into view, bearing the official seals of the state registry. She pulled the top pages out, her eyes rapidly scanning the dense legal jargon. She flipped to the final page, searching for the guarantor signature line.
She studied the signature resting at the bottom of the page. It wasn't blank. It had already been signed.
A slow, chilling realization washed over Vesper. The tension in her shoulders vanished, replaced by an eerie, absolute calm.
May you like
She slowly raised her eyes from the forged ink, locking her gaze toward Derek, who had stopped just two feet away.
"Tonight," Vesper said, her voice dropping into a low, threatening, and absolutely certain register. "You’ll find out who’s really going to be sleeping outside."
