Chapter 5 - The Ambush at the Law Office
At 9:00 AM the following morning, I walked through the glass revolving doors of Sterling, Hayes & Morales, the premier asset protection and litigation firm in the state.
My former mentor, Marcus Sterling, looked up from his desk as his assistant closed the heavy double doors behind me.
"Elena," Marcus said, rising quickly from his leather chair. "When you called my emergency line at four in the morning, I thought you were joking. You're divorcing Adrian Vale?"
"I'm divorcing him," I said, setting the manila folder on his desk with a dull thud. "And I'm initiating a full forensic subpoena against the Vale Global Board of Directors, starting with Harold Vance."
Marcus opened the folder, his silver eyebrows lifting higher with every page he turned. "This is wire fraud, grand larceny, and corporate extortion. If half of these ledger entries check out, Serena Keller and Harold Vance are looking at twenty years in a federal penitentiary."
"I don't care about the prison time," I said coldly. "I want full legal and physical custody of my baby, an irrevocable trust in my child's name, and a total restraining order against Adrian and the Keller family."
Before Marcus could answer, the frosted glass doors to the outer reception area were shoved open.
"Get out of my way," Adrian’s voice boomed down the hallway.
Marcus pressed his intercom. "Security, call the lobby—"
"No," I told Marcus, resting my hand on his arm. "Let him in."
Adrian burst into the office, his suit wrinkled, dark circles bruised beneath his eyes. He hadn't slept. His gaze swept the room and locked onto me, his face collapsing in a mixture of fury, panic, and relief.
"Elena!" He took two long strides toward me, reaching out his arms. "Do you have any idea what you put me through last night? I went to three hospitals! I thought you had been kidnapped!"
"Step back, Adrian," I said, my voice dropping to an icy calm that halted him mid-stride.
He blinked, staring at me as if seeing a stranger. "What are you talking about? Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left the dinner. I know it looked terrible. But Serena had a cardiac episode, the doctor said she nearly went into shock—"
"Serena is fine," I cut him off. "Her heart is as healthy as yours. Probably healthier, considering how much scotch you drank to numb your conscience."
"You don't know what you're talking about!" Adrian snapped, running a hand through his hair. "Her father died saving me, Elena! I owe that family everything! You can't just throw away our marriage over a duty I can't walk away from!"
"Marcus Keller didn't save your life, Adrian," I said quietly, picking up one sheet of paper from the desk and holding it out to him. "He was paid fifty thousand dollars by Harold Vance to run you off the road so Vance could take control of your father's shares."
Adrian stopped. The color slowly drained from his face. "What kind of sick sick lie is that? Harold was my father’s closest friend!"
"Read the ballistics report," I said, shoving the document into his chest. "Read the wire transfer from the offshore account that you’ve been replenishing with five hundred thousand dollars every six months. You didn't owe Serena Keller your marriage, Adrian. You were funding the pension of your attempted assassin."
Adrian looked down at the signature on the page. His hands began to shake violently.
"Where did you get this?" he whispered.
"From the doctor you left me to see last night," I replied. "The one Harold Vance’s men pushed down a flight of stairs two hours after she gave it to me."
Adrian took a step back, the paper trembling in his grip. The illusion of his entire life, the bedrock of his six-year guilt, was crumbling beneath his feet.
"Elena... please," he pleaded, his voice breaking. "Come home. Let me fix this. We'll hire investigators. We'll protect the baby—"
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"You couldn't even protect your wife through dinner," I said, standing tall and meeting his gaze without a trace of the woman who had cried over cold chicken the night before. "You chose Serena Keller every single day of our marriage, Adrian. Now you can have her."
I turned to Marcus. "File the injunction. If Adrian Vale comes within a thousand feet of me or my child, I want him arrested."
