Chapter 18 - Vance's Final Stand
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Two months later, the formal divorce proceedings were finalized in a quiet downtown courtroom.
Because the premarital agreements had been invalidated by Vance’s documented infidelity and fraud, Vance received absolutely zero dollars from the Kensington estate. In fact, he was ordered to pay restitution for the personal property he had destroyed during our marriage.
As I walked out of the courtroom doors into the marble corridor, Vance was waiting for me under the guard of two court officers.
He wore a plain, oversized grey prison jumpsuit, his polished CEO persona completely destroyed. His hair was buzzing short, his posture stooped and beaten.
“Sloane,” he whispered, his voice trembling as the guards allowed him a brief moment to speak.
I stopped, looking at him calmly.
“What is it, Vance?”
“I... I lost everything,” he whimpered, tears spilling down his pale cheeks.
“The apartment is gone. The cars are gone. My father won’t speak to me. My mother is living in a tiny studio apartment in Jersey, working at a dry cleaner just to pay her rent.”
He looked up at me with desperate, hollow eyes.
“Do you really hate me that much?”
I looked at the man who had once been the center of my universe, searching my heart for any lingering trace of hatred, revenge, or pain.
There was nothing left. Only a profound, calm emptiness.
“I don’t hate you, Vance,” I said softly, looking him straight in the eyes.
May you like
“Hate requires energy. And you are simply no longer worth my time.”
Without waiting for his reply, I turned and walked down the grand marble staircase toward the sunlit exit, where my mother and Declan were waiting for me. Behind me, the heavy iron doors of the courthouse holding cell slammed shut with a final, echoing clatter.
