Chapter 3 - The Freeze and the Fall
By 2:00 AM, the story had already broken across every major financial news site and social media platform in the country.
A leaked video clip—captured by a guest at table four—showed the exact moment Julian slapped me, followed by Eleanor’s chilling reading of the prenuptial clause. The hashtag #WaverlyWeddingSlap was trending at number one worldwide.
Inside the presidential suite of the Grand Regency Hotel, I sat on the plush velvet sofa, wearing a comfortable cashmere sweater and slacks. My face was cold-compressed, but my mind was laser-focused.
Sitting across from me was Alexander Hayes—the founder of Hayes Global, my longtime business partner, and the man whose family owned forty percent of the commercial real estate in Manhattan. Alexander was six-foot-two, with sharp jawlines, dark grey eyes, and an aura of absolute power that made men like Julian look like children playing in sandboxes.
"You handled that like a queen, Victoria," Alexander said softly, setting a glass of iced water in front of me. "Though I still wish you had let my team step in before he touched you."
"I needed the evidence to be undeniable, Alexander," I replied, taking a sip of the water. "Helena Waverly is a master manipulator. If Julian hadn't committed a blatant crime in front of two hundred witnesses, she would have dragged this through the courts for years, claiming emotional cruelty or financial breach."
"She won't be dragging anything through court now," Eleanor said, entering the suite with three corporate auditors trailing behind her. "Victoria, as of 1:00 AM, the emergency injunction we filed with the State Supreme Court took effect. All joint bank accounts, line-of-credit guarantees, and corporate trust bonds tied between Sterling Capital and Waverly Enterprises have been frozen."
"What is their current financial position?" I asked.
"Catastrophic," Alexander answered with a ruthless smile. "Waverly Enterprises' stock plummeted forty-two percent in after-hours trading following the video leak. Major retail investors are pulling out. Their chief lender, First National, has just issued a margin call for forty million dollars due by noon tomorrow."
Meanwhile, three miles away in the grand library of the Waverly Estate, chaos reigned.
Helena was pacing across the Persian rug, screaming into her cell phone as glass bottles of bourbon lay shattered on the hearth. "What do you mean you can't freeze her accounts?! She was my daughter-in-law for forty-five minutes!"
"She was never your daughter-in-law, Mrs. Waverly!" her corporate attorney yelled over the speaker. "She never signed the county registry! The prenuptial agreement is ironclad! Furthermore, the District Attorney’s office just called—they have opened a criminal investigation into the forged wire transfers!"
Julian sat on the leather sofa, clutching his head in his hands. "Mother... what have we done? The press is outside the gates. My friends aren't answering my calls. Victoria took everything..."
"Shut up, you spineless fool!" Helena shrieked, turning on her eldest son. "You lost us three million dollars from that wedding safe! Why didn't you make her sign the registry before the ceremony?!"
"Because you told me to play it slow!" Julian yelled back, standing up, his face flushed red. "You told me she was an naive girl who worshipped me! She manipulated us from day one! She knew about Tristan's gambling debts before we even set the wedding date!"
Before Helena could reply, the heavy mahogany doors of the library burst open.
Tristan stood in the doorway, his face pale as chalk, holding a vibrating phone. "Mother... it’s Mr. Lu. The loan shark from Macau."
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Helena swallowed hard. "Put him on speaker."
A cold, sinister voice filled the room through the phone speaker. "Mrs. Waverly. It seems your son's grand wedding failed to deliver our three million dollars. My associates are currently standing outside your estate gates. You have twenty-four hours to produce the funds, or we will begin liquidating your family's personal assets... starting with your son’s fingers."
