Chapter 4 - THE TABLES TURN
The word husband hung in the air like a detonation.
“Husband?” Bailey shrieked, jumping up from her chair so fast her phone clattered against the mahogany table. “What are you talking about? You aren't married! We would have known! Mom didn't plan a wedding!”
“That’s correct, Bailey,” I said clearly, stepping out from the shadow of the table. “We didn't ask Mom to plan anything. Nathaniel and I were legally married a year ago. We didn't invite you because we prefer our milestones free of extortion, screaming matches, and forged debt contracts.”
Diane gripped the edge of the table so hard her knuckles turned stark white. She looked from Nathaniel back to me, her voice pitching up in frantic denial. “It’s a trick! A fake marriage! She’s just trying to scare us—!”
“It is certified, notarized, and fully registered with the state clerk’s office, Mrs. Cole,” Nathaniel stated calmly, pulling a laminated certified copy of our marriage license from his breast pocket and tossing it lightly onto the table beside their fake wedding contract. “Furthermore, my associates and I have been listening to every single word spoken in this room over the past twenty minutes via an encrypted remote audio feed connected directly to my phone.”
The color drained entirely from my father’s face. He stumbled backward against the windowsill, his jaw slack.
The three corporate attorneys sitting beside my mother looked as though they wanted to melt into the carpet. The lead attorney quickly snapped his leather briefcase shut, stood up, and looked at Diane with sudden, freezing hostility.
“Ma'am,” the lead attorney said tightly, addressing my mother. “You informed our firm that this was a standard voluntary commercial restructuring and family trust agreement between consenting parties. You did not disclose that you were attempting to execute an extorted, non-consensual lien under threat of criminal coercion and professional sabotage.”
Diane panicked. “Wait, no—don't listen to him, we were just—!”
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“We are terminating our representation effective immediately,” the attorney interrupted, grabbing his files. “If you attempt to contact our firm regarding this matter again, our legal team will report this attempted extortion to the state bar association.”
Within thirty seconds, my parents’ hired legal protection had packed up their briefcases, muttered hurried apologies to Nathaniel, and practically sprinted out of the private dining room, leaving my family completely defenseless.
