Chapter 7 - THE CRUMBLING EMPIRE
The foyer of the Beacon Hill townhouse became a battleground of panic.
"Harold!" Arthur yelled, spinning around to grab his attorney by the lapels of his suit jacket. "Fix this! Tell me this isn't legal! She gave birth in a homeless shelter! The documentation can't be valid!"
"Quiet, you fool!" Harold hissed, shaking Arthur off, his face drenched in cold sweat. "Mr. Thorne is the former president of the New England Probate Bar! If his seal is on those birth certificates, they are as solid as gold!"
Harold turned to Thomas Thorne, his voice desperate. "Thomas... surely we can discuss a private settlement? The family was under immense emotional strain during the funeral services. Mrs. Vance’s departure was a tragic misunderstanding—"
"Misunderstanding?!" Sister Beatrice’s voice cut through the room like thunder as she stepped forward, her yellow raincoat replaced by her stern, dignified habit. "I picked this young woman up off the wet pavement three blocks from your chapel! She was suffering from stage-two hypothermia and advanced labor! If I had arrived five minutes later, both she and these children would be dead!"
Sister Beatrice pulled a stack of laminated photographs from her pocket and threw them onto the marble table in the hall. "These are the medical entry photographs recorded by our triage team upon her admission! Look at them!"
The photos showed my bruised knees, my soaked, ruined dress, and the severe bruising on my shoulders left by Arthur’s heavy hands when he shoved me through the chapel doors.
Harold looked at the photographs, his jaw dropping in absolute terror. "Arthur... did you lay hands on her?"
"She was causing a scene!" Arthur stammered, backing away toward the front door. "I just moved her out of the foyer!"
"You committed aggravated assault on a pregnant woman in the third trimester," Thomas Thorne said coldly, pulling a second legal folder from his tray. "Which brings us to the second matter of the afternoon."
Thomas handed a legal summons directly to Arthur, then another to Eleanor.
"As of 9:00 AM this morning," Thomas announced, "a formal criminal complaint has been filed with the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office for reckless endangerment, aggravated assault, and denial of emergency medical care. Furthermore, a civil suit for intentional infliction of emotional distress and fraud has been entered into the state registry."
Eleanor staggered backward, clutching her chest. "Criminal charges?! You dare bring criminal charges against the Vance family?!"
"The Vance family name won't protect you from a grand jury, Eleanor," Thomas replied sharply. "The district attorney has already subpoenaed the security footage from the exterior cameras of St. Jude’s Chapel. We have clear, high-definition video of Mr. Arthur Vance dragging Mrs. Vance through the doors and locking her out in the storm."
May you like
Arthur’s face went completely grey. "The security footage...?"
"You forgot about the parish cameras, didn't you, Arthur?" I asked softly, taking a step toward him. "You were so eager to steal Julian’s legacy that you forgot that the world was watching."
