Chapter 6 - The Freezing of the Empire
Dominic backed away from the registry counter, his eyes darting frantically toward the exit doors like a cornered animal searching for a hole in the fence.
"This is an illegal ambush!" Dominic screamed, his voice pitching high and shrill, drawing the shocked stares of thirty people in the registry lobby. "You fabricated those tapes! Harold, file an emergency injunction right now! Call my father!"
"Your father can't help you, Mr. Voss," Cole Radford said, stepping between Dominic and the glass doors with absolute authority.
Cole reached into his coat and produced an official red-stamped federal decree.
"At 11:15 this morning, the United States District Court issued a blanket preliminary injunction against all operating accounts belonging to Dominic Voss and Voss Meridian Holdings," Cole announced, holding the document up for everyone to see.
Dominic froze mid-step, his mouth hanging open in frozen disbelief. "Blanket... blanket injunction?"
"Your personal credit lines, your investment portfolios, your offshore accounts in Grand Cayman, and your luxury vehicle leases have all been placed into federal receivership," Cole explained, his tone as clinical as an autopsy report. "You cannot spend twenty dollars on a sandwich without written authorization from a court-appointed monitor."
"You can't do this!" Dominic wept, running his trembling hands through his disheveled hair. "My legal defense costs three hundred thousand dollars a week! The bail bondsman needs cash collateral by two o'clock or the federal marshals will revoke my release!"
"Then I suggest you get familiar with the bailiff's bench, Dominic," I said, stepping forward so my voice carried straight into his chest. "Because not a single cent of my father's land, and not a single cent of my future, will ever pay to keep your worthless body out of prison."
Harold Finch quickly grabbed his briefcase, unpinned his parking validation, and began backing away from his client with shameless speed.
"Harold! Where the hell are you going?" Dominic yelled, grabbing his lawyer's sleeve in frantic terror. "You represent me!"
"My contract is with Voss Meridian corporate, Dominic," Finch said through clenched teeth, shaking his sleeve free from Dominic's desperate grip. "And as of twenty minutes ago, the corporate board voted to terminate your executive legal coverage. I am withdrawing as your counsel of record. Good luck."
Finch scurried out through the revolving glass doors, leaving Dominic standing completely alone in the center of the government building.
The two county deputies stepped forward, their heavy duty belts creaking as they positioned themselves on either side of my husband.
"Mr. Voss," the senior deputy said firmly. "We have a judicial summons requiring your immediate presence at the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse in South Boston. You need to come with us voluntarily, or we will place you in mechanical restraints right here on the terrazzo."
Dominic looked wildly around the room, searching for a friendly face, a corrupt connection, or an assistant to carry his bags.
There was nobody.
The five hundred employees he had commanded from his ivory tower were watching the news feeds on their phones, celebrating the fall of their abusive tyrant.
Dominic turned his pleading, red-rimmed eyes toward me one last time, dropping to his knees on the cold marble floor.
"Mara, please," he sobbed, tears cutting tracks through the grime on his pale face. "I'll give you everything. I'll sign the Marblehead deed. I'll sign the divorce. Just tell Cole to lift the receivership so I don't go to jail! I'm your husband! We took vows before God!"
I looked down at the broken, groveling man who had spent three years mocking my quiet nature, who had left me to cry in an empty bed while he laughed with his mistress.
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"You broke those vows the first night you forgot to come home, Dominic," I said, my voice steady, calm, and completely unburdened. "Take him away, officers."
The deputies hauled Dominic to his feet and escorted the weeping billionaire out into the cold Massachusetts wind, leaving me standing tall in the light of my father's restored legacy.
