Chapter 8 - THE MORALITY CLAUSE
The room felt as though the temperature had dropped by ten degrees.
Sienna took a step back,
away from Grant,
as if his very presence was now dangerous.
"Embezzlement?"
she whispered,
the white roses slipping from her hand entirely.
They fell onto the marble,
scattering petals across the floor,
mixing with the cold shadow of my presence.
"Grant,
you told me the money was yours.
You told me your family had built this company."
"My family did build it!"
Grant shouted,
turning on her,
his face contorted with rage.
"I worked for every single dollar!
She just sat here and inherited it!"
I stood up from my chair,
the movement slow and deliberate,
and the room fell silent once more.
"Your family built nothing,
Grant.
Your father was a middle manager who begged my grandfather for a job.
You were hired as an assistant,
and I was foolish enough to fall in love with you."
I walked around the table,
stopping just a few feet away from them.
"You thought because I was quiet,
I was weak.
You thought because I loved you,
I would let you take everything my mother worked for."
I looked at Sienna,
noting the way she tried to cover herself with my robe.
"And you,"
I said,
my voice cold as ice.
"You thought you were stepping into a life of luxury.
But you are nothing more than a thief wearing a stolen robe."
"I didn't know,"
Sienna cried,
tears finally spilling over her lashes.
"He told me you were crazy,
that you were abusive,
and that you were keeping him from his money."
"The only thing I kept him from was destroying my family's legacy,"
I said.
"And today,
that protection is complete."
Madeleine stood up,
holding a final set of papers.
"Miss Vance,
under the terms of the trust's morality clause,
any assets transferred to a third party during an active marriage are subject to immediate clawback."
"Which means,"
I added,
looking at Sienna.
"That everything he bought you,
May you like
from the car to the apartment in Chelsea,
belongs to me."
