Chapter 7 - The Courthouse Corridor
The fourth floor of the Stanley Mosk Courthouse was crowded with lawyers, clerks, and court reporters moving between the heavy wooden doors of the family law divisions.
Emily arrived at one-forty-five.
She stood outside Department 42, holding her canvas bag with both hands, her navy trousers pressed, her hair pulled back into a neat, professional knot.
Sitting on the wooden bench across from the courtroom doors was Valerie Carter.
She was fifty-two, dressed in a sharp beige Chanel suit, her blond hair styled into a stiff, immovable helmet. Beside her sat Lauren, wearing a dark green silk dress that looked far too expensive for a courtroom, and two men in grey suits holding thick leather litigation folders.
When Valerie saw Emily walk out of the elevator, a dark, victorious smile spread across her face.
She stood up, smoothing her skirt down, and walked over to Emily, her high heels clicking loudly on the terrazzo floor.
"Look at you," Valerie said, her voice dripping with disgust as she looked at Emily's plain navy trousers. "Dressed like a junior secretary attending a deposition."
"Where is your lawyer, Emily?" Lauren asked, stepping up behind her mother with her arms crossed. "Did your broke husband not have enough money to hire a public defender?"
Emily kept her chin up, refusing to look down at her shoes.
"I don't need a lawyer to state that I am legally married, Valerie," Emily said calmly.
"You signed a paper with a nobody you met on the street!" Valerie snapped, stepping closer until Emily could smell her heavy lavender perfume. "Julian Vance’s legal team checked your husband's tax records two hours ago. Adrian Shaw earns eighty-two thousand dollars a year at a strip-mall accounting firm in Pasadena! He lives in a rented two-bedroom unit! He drives an eleven-year-old Subaru!"
Valerie leaned in closer, her dark eyes flashing with pure malice.
"You threw away forty million dollars for an accountant who can't even afford to buy you a cubic zirconia ring," Valerie whispered. "The judge is going to void your certificate in twenty minutes as a bad-faith asset transfer. And then you are coming directly to Julian’s office on Wilshire to sign the prenuptial agreement."
The heavy wooden doors of Department 42 swung open.
A bailiff stepped out into the hallway.
"Matter of Carter Textiles v. Emily Shaw, Department 42 is now in session," the bailiff announced.
Valerie turned on her heel, her Chanel skirt swishing around her knees, and walked into the courtroom followed by Lauren and her two lawyers.
Emily stood alone in the wide, empty corridor.
She looked down at her phone.
No missed calls. No texts.
May you like
310-555-0192 remained silent.
Emily took a long, slow breath, straightened her shoulders, and walked through the heavy wooden doors.
