Chapter 8 - DNA and Desperation
The black ink dried quickly in the crisp afternoon air, sealing the fate of the Montgomery dynasty.
Eleanor let out an unearthly wail, a sound so raw and humiliated that it caused the remaining guests to recoil in genuine discomfort. She lunged forward, her manicured fingers clawing for the papers, but Marcus cleanly snapped the folder shut and stepped out of reach.
"It's invalid!" Eleanor screamed, her voice cracking, her aristocratic veneer entirely vaporized. "Fraud! Coercion! I will sue you into oblivion, you miserable little gutter rat! I have the finest litigators in the country! We will take those children, and we will crush you under twenty years of discovery and depositions!"
She whipped around, grabbing the arm of a man in a sharply cut charcoal suit who had been lingering nervously near the terrace steps.
"Arthur!" she barked. "Arthur, tell her! Tell this woman that this entire transaction is null and void! You are our chief counsel!"
Arthur, the Montgomery family’s longtime legal titan, adjusted his glasses, his face completely pale. He looked at Eleanor, then at me, then at the three private security agents standing behind my chair.
"Eleanor," Arthur said quietly, his voice tight. "I... I submitted my resignation to the board forty-five minutes ago."
Eleanor froze. "What?"
"Vanguard Apex offered to acquire my entire firm’s equity partnership last week," Arthur whispered, refusing to meet her eyes. "I am now external counsel for Ms. Vance. And legally speaking, Eleanor... the transfer is airtight. Ethan had full proxy authority under the Montgomery trust charter. You signed that authority over to him when his father died."
"You traitor!" Eleanor shrieked, swinging her diamond-encrusted clutch at the lawyer’s face. Arthur ducked, backing away quickly into the crowd.
"Mama," Noah whispered, tugging gently on my dress. "Can we go home now? The screaming lady is hurting my ears."
"Almost, sweetheart," I said, kissing the top of Noah’s dark, curly head.
Ethan had not moved. He remained standing by the table, staring at the empty space where his empire used to be. The realization of what had just occurred was finally sinking into the marrow of his bones. He was no longer the master of the estate. He was no longer the CEO. He was a man with a ruined wedding, an empty bank account, and three sons who looked at him like he was a complete stranger.
"Sienna," Ethan whispered, his storm-gray eyes rimmed with red. "Please... just let me talk to them. Five minutes. Let me tell them who I am."
I turned to look at him. For five years, I had dreamed of this moment. I had dreamed of seeing Ethan Montgomery brought to his knees, stripped of the arrogance and wealth that had allowed him to discard me like trash. But looking at him now, I didn't feel rage. I didn't feel hatred.
I felt nothing.
And that was the most terrifying revenge of all.
"They already know who they are, Ethan," I said calmly. "They are Vances. They are loved, they are safe, and they will never know what it feels like to be judged by the thickness of their family's ledger."
"I can change!" Ethan stepped closer, his voice breaking into a desperate plea. "I will walk away from my mother! I'll cut her off completely! I don't care about the company, Sienna, you can have all of it! Keep the money! Keep the estate! Just... don't take my boys away from me."
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"You can't cut off your mother, Ethan," I said, casting a cool, final glance toward Eleanor, who was now weeping bitterly against a marble pillar, abandoned by every single one of her so-called society friends. "Because as of today, neither of you has anything left to cut off."
***
