Chapter 5 - The Legal Ambush
Three days later.
The private conference room on the fortieth floor of the Federal Courthouse in Manhattan was surrounded by floor-to-ceiling glass windows overlooking the East River.
Dominic sat on one side of the massive mahogany table, flanked by a court-appointed public defender named Marcus Vance—a tired-looking man in a wrinkled suit who had been assigned to him after every private law firm in Manhattan refused to take Dominic’s case.
Dominic looked terrible.
He hadn't slept in three days. He was wearing the same suit he had worn to lunch, now wrinkled and unpressed. His eyes were bloodshot, and his hands twitched constantly.
Sitting across from him was Eleanor Vance, accompanied by two junior associates carrying mountain-high stacks of legal binders.
Beside Eleanor sat Audrey.
She wore a simple, elegant dark green dress, her dark hair pulled back into a neat bun.
She looked radiant, healthy, and completely composed, a far cry from the exhausted, bleeding woman Dominic had left on the hospital sidewalk eight days ago.
Sitting directly beside Audrey, wearing a tailored navy suit with a small silver lapel pin bearing the four-star general insignia, was Charles Brooks.
Charles sat with his arms crossed over his chest, his cold gray eyes locked onto Dominic with surgical precision.
Dominic couldn't even bring himself to make direct eye contact with the old man; every time he looked in Charles’s direction, his throat felt tight.
“We are here to review the preliminary separation terms,” Eleanor began, opening the first binder. “Mr. Vance, your public defender has been provided with a copy of the asset tracing report conducted by our forensic accounting team over the last seventy-two hours.”
Marcus, the public defender, cleared his throat nervously. “We received the report, Miss Vance. However, my client feels that freezing his corporate accounts and revoking his housing access without a sixty-day notice constitutes a violation of—”
“Mr. Vance has no standing to claim housing rights,” Eleanor interrupted smoothly. “The penthouse lease was funded entirely by the Brooks Family Trust. Furthermore, our forensic audit revealed that over the last twenty-four months, Mr. Vance diverted approximately one point two million dollars from Audrey’s private accounts into his own personal investment vehicles without her knowledge or consent.”
Dominic flinched. “That was marital investment! I was managing her capital!”
“You were stealing her capital to cover your firm’s operating margin,” Eleanor corrected coldly. “Which constitutes wire fraud, grand larceny, and breach of fiduciary duty.”
She pulled out a second document, sliding it across the table.
“This is a formal criminal referral prepared for the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York,” Eleanor said. “It outlines twenty-four counts of financial fraud committed by Dominic Vance during his tenure at Vance Capital.”
Dominic’s face turned paper-white. He looked at Audrey, his eyes wide with desperate panic.
“Audrey... please,” Dominic begged, his voice cracking. “We’re a family! Think about Leo! You can’t send your husband to prison!”
Audrey looked at him, her expression completely calm, free of anger, hatred, or regret.
It was the look of a woman who had moved so far beyond a person that they no longer possessed the power to hurt her.
“You didn't think about Leo when you dropped his diaper bag at my feet while I was bleeding,” Audrey said, her voice smooth and measured. “You didn't think about our family when you gave me twelve dollars and told me to take a bus home so your mother wouldn't miss a lunch reservation.”
“I was stupid! I was stressed!” Dominic cried, leaning across the table. “I’m sorry, Audrey! I’ll do whatever you want! I’ll apologize to your father! I’ll go to counseling!”
Charles Brooks slowly leaned forward, placing his heavy forearms on the table.
The simple movement was so filled with latent authority that the entire room went instantly silent.
“Mr. Vance,” Charles said, his deep voice vibrating through the glass windows. “You will not speak to my daughter again. You will not look at my grandson again. If you so much as breathe her name in public, I will ensure that every regulatory agency, military procurement board, and federal prosecutor in this country scrutinizes every single breath you’ve taken since the day you were born.”
Dominic swallowed hard, his throat completely dry.
“Sign the agreement,” Charles commanded softly. “Or my attorney files the criminal referral before we reach the elevator.”
Marcus looked at the agreement, then looked at Dominic, shaking his head slowly.
May you like
“Sign it, Dominic,” Marcus whispered. “If this goes to a federal grand jury, you’re looking at fifteen years in Fort Leavenworth.”
With trembling fingers, Dominic picked up the pen, signing his name on the dotted line, surrendering his marriage, his assets, his firm, and his dignity with a few strokes of blue ink.
