Chapter 8 - The Traitor's Trap
Spencer looked around the room like a trapped animal.
His board members looked away from him in disgust. His lawyer ducked his head, refusing to make eye contact. And his father stood motionless at the head of the table, his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes dead and cold as ice.
"Dad!" Spencer screamed as the officers grabbed his arms and forced them behind his back. "Dad, tell them to stop! Call our legal team! You can't let them take me!"
Richard Vance didn't move an inch. He didn't even blink.
"You are stripped of your position as Chief Operating Officer, effective immediately," Richard said, his voice flat, devoid of any fatherly affection. "Your corporate shares are frozen. And the Vance family trust will cover every dollar of Chloe’s medical, legal, and personal care for the rest of her life."
"You old fool!" Spencer spat, dropping all pretense of innocence as the handcuffs clicked tight around his wrists. He glared at his father with venomous hatred. "I built half this company! You kept me under your thumb for fifteen years! You cared more about an unborn heir than you ever cared about me!"
"I cared about honor," Richard said quietly. "Something you never possessed."
The officers began dragging Spencer toward the exit. As he passed Chloe and me, he stopped, his blue eyes burning with psychotic rage.
"You think you won, Evelyn?" Spencer whispered, leaning close to my face, his breath hot against my cheek. "You think taking me down makes her safe? I have offshore accounts you'll never touch. My lawyers will have me out on bail before the sun sets today. And when I get out—"
"When you get out," I interrupted, leaning right back into his face, my voice quiet as a whisper, "you won't have a single dollar left to pay them."
Spencer frowned, a flicker of confusion breaking through his rage. "What are you talking about?"
I pulled a stamped legal document from my coat and showed it to him.
"This is an emergency civil lien filed two hours ago in state chancery court," I explained smoothly. "Chloe signed a full asset freeze petition as your lawful spouse under the State Spousal Abuse and Medical Malpractice Protection Act. Every account with your name on it—domestic and offshore—is locked under federal custody until the criminal trial concludes."
Spencer’s eyes went wide. The color drained completely from his face. For a man like Spencer, losing his freedom was terrible, but losing his money was absolute death.
"Take him away," the federal agent ordered.
Spencer was dragged out of the executive suite, his boots dragging against the marble floor, his screams echoing down the elevator shaft until the doors slid shut and plunged the hallway into silence.
Richard Vance walked slowly down the length of the marble table. He stopped in front of Chloe, looking down at her pregnant belly with a mixture of profound sorrow and deep respect.
He took Chloe’s hand in his large, weathered palms and bowed his head.
"I am so deeply sorry, my dear," the old man choked out, a tear finally escaping his eye. "I brought a monster into your life."
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"You didn't bring him, Richard," Chloe said softly, placing her hand over his. "He chose his own path. But my son... your grandson... will be raised differently."
Richard looked up, a faint smile touching his lips. "Yes. He will."
