Chapter 5 - The Snake's Skin
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"You don't understand!" Peter shouted, his voice cracking with desperation. "It wasn't a steal! It was an investment! We were going to put the money into the riverfront commercial development! We were going to double Sophie's trust in six months!"
"Without my permission?" I asked, stepping down from the stage, holding my heavy train in one hand. "Using my dead husband's forged signature?"
"It wasn't forged!" Evan interjected, his voice losing its calm composure for the first time. The smooth, charming prince was gone; in his place stood a desperate, cornered rat. "Mark was a partner in my early ventures! He owed me that capital!"
The entire room let out a collective gasp.
"Mark died three years ago, Evan!" I yelled, stepping right up to him until we were chest-to-chest. "You didn't even meet me until eighteen months ago! How could he owe you capital?!"
Evan froze. His mouth stayed open, but no sound came out. He had told so many lies over the past year that he had finally lost track of his own story.
Uncle David walked over, pulling out his cell phone. "I'm calling the state police financial crimes unit right now."
"No! Wait!" Evan panicked, reaching out to grab my arm. "Clara, please! We're married! You can't testify against your husband!"
I ripped my arm out of his grip, feeling a deep, burning fury I didn't know I possessed.
"We signed the certificate twenty minutes ago, Evan," I said, taking a step back. "But the magistrate hasn't filed it with the county court yet. He's sitting right there at Table 8."
I turned toward Magistrate Thomas, an old family friend sitting near the back.
The silver-haired magistrate stood up slowly, pulled a fountain pen from his breast pocket, and picked up the official state marriage certificate sitting beside his plate.
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In front of two hundred silent witnesses, Magistrate Thomas tore the marriage license clean down the middle, then tore it again into four neat pieces.
"Consider it unexecuted, Clara," the magistrate said quietly.
