He slapped his bride in front of three hundred guests and forgot she was the lawyer who never lost

By Friday evening, the pressure on Voss Industrial had reached nuclear proportions.

Judge Miller had issued an injunction freezing fifty million dollars in Voss Industrial accounts tied to municipal projects. The Securities and Exchange Commission had opened an emergency investigation into Apex Holdings, and two state senators who had attended the wedding had publicly returned their campaign contributions.

In the penthouse office of the Voss Building, Reginald sat alone in the dark.

The floor-to-ceiling windows showed the city lights stretching out toward the horizon—a city his grandfather had helped build, a city where the name Voss had opened every door for seventy years.

The double doors opened.

Julian walked in. He looked completely unspooled. He had been drinking; the smell of bourbon preceded him into the dark room.

“Dad,” Julian said, his voice slurred, shaking. “The bank just canceled our credit line for the waterfront project. Sterling says we need to offer a fifty-million-dollar settlement to Sarah Pendelton on Monday or the grand jury will issue indictments by Wednesday.”

Reginald did not turn around. He stayed staring out at the city.

“You hit her,” Reginald said softly.

Julian paused, blinking in the darkness. “What?”

“You hit her,” Reginald repeated. His voice wasn't angry. It was dead. “I spent thirty years building an ironclad corporate structure. I spent millions securing politicians, judges, regulatory agencies, and accounting firms. I made us untouchable.”

He turned his chair around slowly. Under the dim desk lamp, Reginald’s face looked sunken, aged by ten years in six days.

“And you,” Reginald whispered, “lost your temper like a drunken dockworker in front of three hundred witnesses because a woman asked you a question about a paper.”

“She was setting us up, Dad!” Julian yelled, slamming his fist onto the mahogany desk. “She planned this whole thing! She never even signed the marriage license! She used me to get inside the company!”

Reginald stood up. He walked around the desk until he was inches from his son.

“She didn't set us up, you fool,” Reginald said, his voice dropping into an icy, venomous whisper. “She was willing to be your wife. She was willing to stand beside you. But you couldn't stand the thought of a woman who was smarter than you. You wanted a trophy from Marsh Hollow that you could display at dinners, and when she showed you she had a mind, you tried to break her.”

Julian swallowed hard, backing away from his father’s terrifying gaze. “What... what are we going to do?”

Reginald pulled a fountain pen from his pocket and set it on the desk alongside a sheet of company letterhead.

“I am going to settle with Sarah Pendelton,” Reginald said. “I am going to pay whatever fine the SEC demands. And you are going to sign this resignation letter, surrender your stock options, and turn yourself in to the District Attorney’s office for assault and obstruction of justice.”