“Additionally,” Vance added, dropping another bombshell, “we have filed a separate civil suit regarding the unauthorized transfer of funds from joint accounts. The money Mr. Mercer used to pay his legal retainers and purchase gifts for Miss Hale was, in fact, drawn from accounts quietly underwritten by my client’s trust. We are requesting an immediate freeze on all of Mr. Mercer’s personal and business accounts pending a full forensic audit.”

“Motion granted,” the judge declared without hesitation, reviewing the official trust seals on the documents before him. “All disputed assets are hereby frozen immediately.”

Julian slumped back into his chair as if he had been physically struck. Beside him, Stacy pulled her hand away from his arm, taking a visible step back as she realized the grand lifestyle she had been promised was evaporating in real time.

In the front row, Eleanor Mercer clutched her chest, her arrogant posture completely ruined as reporters behind her began furiously typing on their phones and snapping photographs.

I sat quietly, my hands still neatly folded in my lap. I looked over at Julian, meeting his terrified gaze with a calm, unbothered expression. For seven years, they had treated me like trash they had picked up off the street. They had brought another woman into my life to humiliate me, believing I had nowhere else to go.

They thought they were throwing me out into the cold. They never realized that I held the keys to the entire house.