Chapter 9 - The Eviction from High Society
The walk from the ballroom to the main lobby of the St. Regis was a quarter-mile gauntlet of sheer public humiliation.
Vanessa was not allowed to change out of her wedding dress. She was forced to walk the entire length of the grand hallway in her torn, dirty bridal gown, flanked by two uniformed officers, while the hotel staff, tourists, and dozens of paparazzi flashed their high-powered cameras right in her face.
Her mother, who had spent the last hour hiding in the VIP dressing room, refused to walk beside her, having already called her own private divorce attorney to separate her remaining assets from Richard Vale before midnight.
Outside the revolving glass doors, the flashbulbs illuminated the rainy Manhattan evening in blinding bursts of white light. Reporters were already shouting questions over the sirens:
""Vanessa! Did your father embezzle fifty million dollars?!""
""Is it true the wedding was cancelled due to wire fraud?!""
""Who is Maya Vance?!""
Vanessa shielded her face with her bare, unadorned hands, crying hysterically as she was guided toward a standard yellow taxi cab. Her private limousine had already been repossessed twenty minutes earlier by the leasing company after Vance Capital canceled the authorization code.
She got into the backseat of the yellow cab, her massive fifty-thousand-euro gown spilling awkwardly across the worn vinyl seats. The door slammed shut, and the cab pulled away into the wet city traffic, carrying away the remnants of a woman who had spent her entire life stepping on others to reach a pedestal made of sand.
Back inside the ballroom, the silence was finally peaceful.
Catering staff began quietly packing up the silver and cleaning away the untouched plates of imported food. Julian Cross walked up to me, handing me a leather portfolio containing the final signed affidavits.
""Everything has been executed flawlessly, Maya,"" Julian said, offering a rare, gentle smile. ""The Vale accounts are frozen. Richard will be facing ten to fifteen years on multiple counts of fraud. Adrian has turned state's evidence, which will spare him prison, though he’ll spend the next decade paying back the Vance Trust as a standard employee at our logistics branch.""
""And Clara?"" I asked, looking up at him.
May you like
""Clara called five minutes ago,"" Julian answered softly. ""She watched the livestream from her apartment. She was crying, Maya. But for the first time in two years... they were tears of relief. She said she finally feels like she can breathe again.""
I let out a long breath, feeling the weight of the last three years lift from my shoulders. The revenge had been necessary, but the true prize was never watching Vanessa fall. It was knowing that my family could finally heal.
