Chapter 16 - The Cracking Alliance
Deprived of Arthur Montgomery’s fortune and facing a multi-million-dollar defamation suit, Eleanor and Nathan’s toxic alliance collapsed under the weight of mutual terror.
Nathan showed up at Richard Vance’s law office on Friday morning without his mother. He looked like a man who hadn't slept in seventy-two hours. His designer clothes were rumpled, his hair unwashed, and the arrogance had completely vanished from his posture.
"I want a deal," Nathan stammered, sitting across from Richard and me in the glass conference room. "Lauren, please. Mom orchestrated everything. She was the one who told me to forge Grandma's initials on the commercial deeds back in 2021! She told me you were soft and that if we pushed hard enough, you would give up the house just to keep the peace!"
Richard Vance adjusted his glasses and pressed the record button on the desk console. "Nathan, you are currently in violation of your pre-trial diversion agreement. If Lauren presses charges for extortion and witness intimidation based on Tuesday night's porch confrontation, you are looking at five to seven years in Walla Walla State Penitentiary."
Nathan broke down, burying his face in his hands, weeping genuine tears of panic. "I can't go to prison! I’ll sign whatever you want! I’ll testify against Mom! She has an offshore account in the Caymans where she hid seventy thousand dollars from Dad’s old life insurance policy—money that was supposed to go into Lauren’s college trust fifteen years ago!"
I leaned forward across the mahogany table. "Say that again, Nathan."
"Mom stole your college fund," Nathan sobbed. "Dad left seventy-five thousand dollars specifically in trust for your university tuition when he died in 2008. Mom told you the money was lost in the stock market crash so you’d have to work three jobs to pay for school. But she didn't lose it. She transferred it to a Caribbean shell company and spent it on jewelry, trips to Cabo, and cosmetic surgeries over the next five years. I found the bank slips in her filing cabinet last month when we were looking for title papers."
The air in the room felt sub-zero.
I remembered my twenties. I remembered scrubbing restaurant floors until 2:00 AM, walking four miles in the freezing rain because I couldn't afford bus fare, surviving on instant noodles while Eleanor lectured me about how "character is built through hardship" and how my father hadn't loved me enough to leave me an inheritance.
She hadn't just tried to steal my house today. She had robbed me of my youth, my health, and my father's final gift, all while mocking my struggle.
"Richard," I said, my voice terrifyingly calm. "Call the King County Special Prosecutions Unit. Nathan is going to give a sworn deposition right now."
Nathan looked up, sniffling. "If I do this... will you drop the civil suit against me?"
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"I won't sue you for defamation, Nathan," I said coldly. "Your wage garnishment remains at three hundred and twelve dollars every two weeks until Grandma is repaid every cent. But your mother... your mother is going to answer for every single dollar she stole since the day my father died."
***
