Chapter 10
"Order!
Order in this court!"
Judge Vance slammed her wooden gavel down three times,
the sharp bangs echoing through the room like gunshots.
"Mr. Henderson,
if you utter one more word without permission,"
she growled,
her face contorted in absolute fury at his disrespect,
"I will have the bailiff remove you and lock you in a holding cell immediately!"
Scott collapsed back into his chair,
his chest heaving with frantic,
shallow breaths,
his face completely devoid of color.
His hands were shaking violently now,
the expensive designer watch catching the light as his fingers twitched against the desk.
His lawyer,
Marcus Vance,
looked equally stunned,
his professional composure entirely shattered by Jerome's revelation.
"Your Honor,"
Vance stammered,
his voice losing all its previous confidence,
"this is highly irregular,
we have never seen this alleged document before."
"My client was assured by the family's previous attorneys that he was the sole heir,"
he argued desperately,
"we demand a recess to examine the validity of this piece of paper."
"There is no need for a recess,
Your Honor,"
Jerome countered smoothly,
turning around to face the back gallery of the courtroom.
"We have the official,
court-appointed executor of the estate present in the room today,"
Jerome announced,
gesturing toward the corner where the older gentleman sat.
"I call Mr. Arthur Harrison to the stand to clarify the terms of the inheritance,"
Jerome requested.
Mr. Harrison stood up with quiet dignity,
carrying his thick leather folder,
and walked calmly past the gallery gate toward the witness stand.
Scott stared at him with wide,
wild eyes,
finally realizing that the man he had ignored for weeks was the ultimate arbiter of his fate.
Mr. Harrison took the oath,
swearing to tell the truth,
and sat down in the wooden witness chair,
looking thoroughly unimpressed by Scott's childish panic.
"Mr. Harrison,"
Judge Vance began,
leaning forward to look at the executor,
"can you confirm the authenticity of the document presented by the defense?"
"Yes,
Your Honor,
I can,"
Mr. Harrison replied,
his voice deep,
calm,
and filled with decades of legal authority.
"I was Margaret Henderson's personal legal counsel and trusted friend for over thirty years,"
he explained to the court.
"Two months before her death,
she called me to her home in a state of great distress,"
he revealed,
"having discovered certain undeniable facts about her grandson's behavior."
"She explicitly told me that she would not allow her hard-earned family legacy to fund a life of deceit and betrayal,"
he stated firmly.
"Therefore,
she personally drafted and signed this conditional mandate,"
he testified,
opening his folder to produce the original document with the official notary stamps.
"I am the sole executor of this estate,"
Mr. Harrison declared,
looking directly at Scott with cold,
disapproving eyes,
"and my instructions from the deceased are absolute."
"If Scott Henderson fails to meet the strict conditions of fidelity and marital stability,"
he explained,
"the funds must be transferred in their entirety to Avery Collins."
"And as of right now,"
Mr. Harrison concluded,
"Mr. Henderson has clearly violated those conditions by filing for a fast-track divorce based on his own initiative."
Marcus Vance jumped to his feet,
trying desperately to find a loophole in the ironclad testimony.
"But Your Honor!"
Vance argued loudly,
"a divorce is a mutual recognition of an unhappy marriage!"
"My client filed because the marriage was already dead,"
he claimed,
"you cannot penalize a man for ending a failed relationship!"
"We have no proof of any infidelity,"
Vance insisted,
glancing back at Kayla who was now biting her nails nervously in the gallery,
"this is simply a case of irreconcilable differences!"
I looked over at Jerome,
and a dark,
victorious smile passed between us,
May you like
knowing that they had just walked directly into the final,
deadly phase of our legal trap.
