Chapter 5 - Ice in the Veins
Three days later, I was finally discharged from the hospital and moved into a secure, gated residence arranged by Maya. The physical wounds on my body were healing, but every time I felt my baby kick, a fierce, protective instinct burned deeper in my chest.
I was sitting in Maya’s high-rise office, signing a stack of legal documents, when her legal assistant walked in.
"Maya, Mark Vance’s defense attorney is on line one. He’s begging for a plea deal before the formal indictment tomorrow."
Maya looked at me over her reading glasses. "What do you want to do, Elena? We hold every single card."
"Put him on speaker," I said.
Maya pressed the button. "This is Maya Lin. Mrs. Vance is in the room with me."
"Maya, thank God," a stressed, sweaty-sounding voice blared through the speaker. It was Arthur Pendelton, one of the city's most expensive defense lawyers. "Look, my client is willing to negotiate. Mark realizes he made grave mistakes. He is prepared to sign a full, uncontested divorce settlement immediately. He will forfeit all claims to the marital home and waive any rights to alimony."
I let out a cold, bitter laugh. "He wants to waive alimony? He’s eighteen million dollars in debt, Arthur. He doesn't have any money to give me anyway."
There was a long pause on the line. "Mrs. Vance... Mark is facing fifteen years in state prison. He has a child on the way. He is asking for joint custody with supervised visitation, and in exchange, he will sign over his remaining business shares to settle his debts without dragging you into bankruptcy court."
"Joint custody?" I leaned toward the speakerphone, my voice dropping to a icy whisper. "He strapped me to a chair and tried to steal my baby and my inheritance. Tell your client that I am filing for full legal and physical custody, with zero visitation rights. He will never hold this baby. He will never see this baby. He will never even hear this baby's voice."
"Mrs. Vance, the court rarely terminates parental rights completely—"
"The court does when the father is a convicted felon who committed domestic torture against the mother while she was pregnant," Maya cut in sharply. "Tell Mark his deal is rejected. We are going to trial. And tell Brenda that we are filing an elder abuse cross-claim against her for her involvement."
"Wait! Please!" Arthur pleaded. "Brenda is seventy years old! She can't go to jail!"
"She should have thought about that before she stole my call light and locked it in her purse," I said coldly. "We're done talking, Arthur. I’ll see your client in court."
Maya slammed the receiver down.
"That felt good," I admitted, taking a deep breath.
"That was just the warm-up," Maya smiled, opening a new folder. "Now, let me show you what my forensic accountants found. Mark didn't just embezzle from his company. He opened three secret bank accounts in the Cayman Islands under your name using a forged power of attorney. He was planning to shift his corporate tax fraud onto you so that when his company went under, you would take the criminal rap while he walked away with your trust money."
A chill ran down my spine. The sheer depth of his betrayal was endless. He hadn't just tried to lock me away—he had planned to send me to prison in his place.
"Can we prove the signatures are fake?" I asked.
May you like
"We already did," Maya said, sliding a document over. "A forensic handwriting expert verified that every signature on those offshore documents was executed by Chloe Bennett, imitating your handwriting. They were in this together from day one."
"Then let's crush them," I said. "All three of them."
