Vanessa kicked frantically, her high heels scraping against the floor as Julian dragged her past the pews.
Vanessa: Let go of me! Julian, you are hurting my arm!
Julian: You didn't care about hurting a helpless child when you smacked him across this chapel!
Richard: Julian! Unhand my daughter right now!
Richard Vance ran down the aisle from the front row, his face red with fury.
Julian: Back away, Richard, or I will put you through that oak door myself.
Richard: You cannot assault my daughter in front of hundreds of people over a street boy's fantasy!
Julian: That street boy is my flesh and blood, Richard! He is the sole heir to the Sterling estate!
Leo: Dad, I brought the papers! I kept them in my coat!
Julian stopped, letting go of Vanessa's arm as Leo pulled three crumpled sheets from his jacket pocket.
Julian: What are these, Leo?
Leo: Mr. Henderson dropped them when he was drinking whiskey two nights ago! I grabbed them before I climbed out the window!
Julian snatched the papers, his eyes scanning the corporate letterhead at the top.
Marcus: Julian, let me see those.
Julian’s best man and attorney, Marcus, hurried down the steps and looked over Julian’s shoulder.
Marcus: Julian... these are wire transfer receipts from Vance Logistics' offshore account in Belize.
Vanessa: That was legal security consulting! Henderson was working on warehouse inventory for my father!
Marcus: Thirty thousand dollars a month for sixty straight months. Memo line: Waco ward maintenance and silence.
The entire hall erupted into angry murmurs and horrified gasps.
Julian: Ward maintenance? You kept my son locked in an attic like stolen property?!
Vanessa: Julian, please... you have to understand what you were like after Claire died!
Julian: What I was like?! I spent two years drinking myself to death while visiting an empty grave!
Vanessa: You were obsessed! You were going to spend every penny of the family trust fund on pointless searches!
Julian: So you paid off my investigator to keep him hidden so you could take Claire's place?!
Vanessa: I loved you! I was the one who pulled you out of the gutter and put you back on the board!
Julian: You didn't love me! You loved my name, my fortune, and the Sterling family power!
Leo: She told Mr. Henderson that after today, he was taking me across the Mexican border.
The room went so quiet you could hear the air conditioning humming overhead.
Julian: Mexico? You were going to traffic my ten-year-old child out of the country so he would never be found?
Vanessa: Henderson said it was getting too dangerous to keep him near Waco!
Julian: So you approved it! You signed off on human trafficking!
Richard: Vanessa, be quiet! Not another word until our defense team gets here!
Marcus: Julian, look at the bottom document in this stack.
Marcus handed Julian a folded contract covered in messy handwriting.
Marcus: It’s a handwritten agreement between Vanessa and Henderson, signed the exact week Claire died.
Julian’s hands shook as he read the first few sentences.
Julian: This wasn't just hiding him after the fact. You planned this whole thing before Claire was even in the ground.
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