“You wouldn’t enforce that.”
“You slammed my face into a table in front of two hundred witnesses.”
The silence was suffocating.
One officer moved closer.
“Sir, we need to speak with you regarding the credit application and an assault complaint.”
Derek looked around as if someone might step in and rescue him.
Nobody did.
Even Richard backed away.
Then Derek made his last mistake.
He grabbed the microphone from my hand.
“You ungrateful bitch.”
The officer seized his wrist.
Derek jerked backward.
“Get off me!”
Within seconds, he was against the table with his hands being secured behind him while champagne glasses toppled and shattered on the floor.
Patricia screamed.
“This is her fault!”
I looked at her.
“No, Patricia. This is what consequences look like.”
She rushed toward me, but Lena stepped between us.
Melissa handed Patricia another document.
“You should read that.”
“What is it?”
“Notice to vacate.”
Patricia blinked.
I smiled faintly.
“The guesthouse you’ve been living in rent-free belongs to my trust too.”
Her mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
For the first time since I’d met that family, none of them had anything to say.
The marriage was annulled six weeks later.
Derek eventually pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and attempted financial fraud after investigators recovered emails showing that he and Patricia had planned to access my assets after the wedding. He received probation, mandatory counseling, restitution, and a criminal record that cost him his finance job.
Patricia avoided criminal charges but lost the guesthouse, the luxury car I’d been paying for, and the lifestyle she had assumed would last forever.
