Chapter 5 - Desperate Measures
By midnight, Brendan and his mother were sitting on a bench outside a twenty-four-hour diner three miles away from their former estate. Jessica had abandoned them forty-five minutes earlier, getting into an Uber called by her ex-boyfriend after realizing Brendan was utterly ruined.
“That viper!” Diane hissed, shivering in the cool night breeze, her eyes red and swollen. “That ungrateful, deceitful little snake! She lived under our roof! She ate our food! How could she do this to us, Brendan?!”
Brendan sat with his head in his hands, staring at the concrete. The reality was crashing down on him with the weight of a falling skyscraper. Everything he was—his title, his luxury cars, his tailored suits, his high-society friends—had been an illusion funded by the very woman he had treated like dirt.
“Mom... shut up,” Brendan muttered hoarsely.
“What did you say to me?!” Diane gasped.
“I said shut up!” Brendan yelled, standing up with bloodshot eyes. “She offered me everything! She loved me! If I had just treated her like a human being, we would be sitting on top of a multi-billion-dollar empire right now! But you couldn't stop picking at her! You couldn't stop insulting her!”
“Me?!” Diane shrieked, pointing a trembling finger at him. “You were the one who brought that bimbo Jessica to the dinner table tonight! You were the one who laughed when I threw the water!”
Before Brendan could reply, his phone—which was miraculously still working on a basic personal plan—rang. It was his lead corporate attorney, Richard Sterling (no relation to Cassidy).
“Brendan,” Richard’s voice was grim. “Where are you?”
“I’m on the street!” Brendan cried desperately. “Richard, you have to do something! She locked us out! She took my house, my cars, my money! Can’t we sue her for spousal fraud?! She hid her wealth during our marriage!”
Richard let out a long, exhausted sigh. “Brendan, listen to me very carefully. Do NOT file anything. I just reviewed your prenuptial agreement.”
Brendan went dead quiet. “What about it?”
“When you married Cassidy three years ago, your mother insisted on drafting a harsh prenup to ensure she got 'not a single penny of Vance money' in the event of a divorce,” Richard explained. “Clause 14B of that agreement explicitly states that both parties waive all rights to any assets, trusts, holdings, or inheritances held by the other party prior to or during the marriage.”
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Brendan’s phone almost slipped from his numb fingers. “What... what does that mean?”
“It means,” Richard said coldly, “that by forcing her to sign that brutal prenup to protect your miserable millions, your mother legally protected Cassidy’s billions from you. You have zero claim to her empire. And worse... Vanguard’s legal team just filed criminal charges against you for corporate embezzlement.”
