Vanessa kicked wildly against the slick stone, her silk gown tearing along the floor as Julian dragged her past the pews.
Vanessa: Let go of me! Julian, you are breaking my arm!
Julian: You didn't care about hurting a helpless child when you smacked him across this room!
Richard: Julian! Unhand my daughter right now!
Richard Vance rushed from the third row, his expensive suit wrinkled as he reached out to grab Julian's shoulder.
Julian: Back away, Richard, or I will throw you through that front door myself.
Richard: You cannot assault my daughter in front of Dallas society over a beggar's wild fantasy!
Julian: That beggar is my flesh and blood! He is the sole heir to the Sterling estate!
Leo: Dad, I brought the papers! I kept them inside my coat pocket!
Julian dropped Vanessa's arm onto the floor as Leo pulled three folded, damp sheets of paper from his jacket.
Julian: What are these, Leo? Where did you get them?
Leo: Mr. Henderson dropped them when he passed out drunk two nights ago! I grabbed them before I climbed out the window!
Julian took the papers, his eyes locking onto the corporate letterhead printed across the top.
Marcus: Julian, let me see those right now.
Julian's best man and chief corporate attorney, Marcus, hurried down the steps and looked over Julian's shoulder.
Marcus: Julian... these are certified wire transfer slips 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 every single month for sixty straight months. Memo line: Waco ward maintenance and silence.
The entire ballroom erupted into loud murmurs and horrified gasps as guests pointed at the bride on the floor.
Julian: Ward maintenance? You kept my son locked in an attic like stolen merchandise?!
Vanessa: Julian, please... you don't know 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 in Highland Park!
Vanessa: You were obsessed! You were going to spend every penny of the family trust fund on pointless searches across the country!
Julian: So you paid off my own investigator to keep him hidden so you could take Claire's place in my house?!
Vanessa: I loved you! I was the one who pulled you out of the dark and put you back on the board of directors!
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 forever.
The ballroom went dead silent, the soft hum of the air conditioning the only sound in the vast room.
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 my only son!
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, hurried handwriting.
Marcus: It’s a signed confidentiality agreement between Vanessa Vance and Henderson, dated the exact week Claire died.
Julian's hands shook with violent fury as he read the first few sentences under the bright chandeliers.
Julian: This wasn't just hiding him after the fact. You planned this whole thing before Claire was even in the ground.
Julian stepped closer to the trembling woman on the floor, his voice dropping into a dangerous whisper.
Julian: Now tell me what you did to Claire's car.
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