Chapter 5 - The Legal Extermination(Focus: The final annulment and bankruptcy court hearing; Dominic’s legal team attempts a desperate defense, only for Audrey to expose their hidden offshore accounts.)
The federal bankruptcy and family court was sterile, cold, and completely devoid of the luxury the Vance family had spent their lives hiding behind. Dominic sat at the defense table, his custom suits gone, replaced by a cheap, off-the-rack grey outfit that looked two sizes too large for his sunken frame. His expensive defense attorneys had abandoned him the moment his frozen assets were declared state property, leaving him with a cynical, exhausted public defender.
I sat at the petitioner's table, flanked by Daniel Vance and a team of four forensic accountants from the state banking commission.
The judge, a stern, elderly woman named Honorable Beatrice Vance—ironically possessing the same last name but holding an absolute hatred for white-collar corruption—slammed her gavel down. "We are here to finalize the ex-parte petition for total marital annulment and the corporate restitution claims against the defendant, Mr. Dominic Vance. Counselor, proceed."
Dominic’s public defender stood up, clearing his throat nervously. "Your Honor, while my client acknowledges that his... actions on the night of the wedding were highly inappropriate, we argue that the complete liquidation of his tech firm constitutes an excessive, punitive measure by the petitioner. We request a restructuring of the debt and a minimal spousal maintenance allowance so my client can rebuild his professional life."
Dominic looked across the courtroom at me, his eyes filled with a pathetic, begging glit. He believed that because we had once shared a bed, some shred of feminine pity would make me spare him from the absolute bottom of the financial ladder.
Daniel stood up, smoothly buttoning his blazer, and walked to the center of the courtroom, holding a single encrypted flash drive.
"Your Honor," Daniel began, his voice echoing with absolute authority. "We are not here to negotiate a restructuring. We are here to execute a final judgment. Over the last seventy-two hours, our forensic team uncovered a secondary, hidden digital ledger inside the defendant’s private server—one he forgot to erase before his corporate eviction."
Daniel projected the files onto the courtroom monitors. Dominic’s hands began to shake violently against the wooden table.
"Mr. Dominic Vance didn't just embezzle from his own firm," Daniel revealed. "For the last two years, he has been acting as a corporate mole, selling proprietary defense-infrastructure data belonging to Brooks Global—Audrey's father's corporation—to foreign competitors in exchange for a $15 million shadow account in the Cayman Islands. He intentionally sought out Audrey, believed her fake identity, and planned to use the marriage as a legal shield to launder the stolen money into her family’s real estate holdings."
The public defender slowly sat down, closed his folder, and refused to look at Dominic.
The judge’s expression turned into a terrifying mask of judicial fury. She looked down at Dominic over her spectacles. "Mr. Vance, your actions go far beyond marital fraud. This is an egregious case of corporate espionage, grand larceny, and calculated domestic extortion."
She slammed her gavel down with a resounding crack that sounded like a prison door locking shut.
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"The marriage is hereby declared null, void, and non-existent from the very beginning. Dominic Vance is ordered to pay $24 million in immediate restitution to the Brooks Estate. All personal assets, properties, pensions, and future earnings are permanently attached to a state lien. Furthermore, I am remanding the defendant into the custody of the federal marshals to await trial for corporate treason."
Two large, armed marshals stepped forward, pulling Dominic's arms behind his back. The heavy metallic clink of the steel handcuffs locking around his wrists was the exact same sound my heels had made when I dropped them onto the penthouse floor. He began to weep openly, his legs buckling as he was dragged out of the courtroom toward the holding cells.
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