Chapter 18 - Unraveling the Network
|
Six months later.
The historic trial of The United States v. Cordelia Montgomery concluded with a unanimous guilty verdict on all twelve counts. The news swept through the country, serving as a landmark case for corporate transparency and the prosecution of high-society financial crimes.
I was living in a small, sunlit apartment in Florence, Italy, surrounded by drafting tables, architectural blueprints, and fresh flowers.
My life was quiet, productive, and entirely my own.
Every Sunday, I spoke with my father and Bernardet over video calls, watching the progress of the foundation from afar. The Montgomery name had become a cautionary tale in business schools—a symbol of how vanity, greed, and arrogance can destroy an empire from within.
One evening, as I sat on my balcony overlooking the red-tiled roofs of Florence, I received a thick express package from Ethan’s office in New York.
Inside was the final decree of annulment, stamped by the Supreme Court of New York.
I was no longer legally bound to Lachlan Montgomery in any way, shape, or form. The short, terrifying forty-eight-hour marriage was officially erased from my legal history.
May you like
Beside the decree lay a small leather notebook that had been recovered from the final liquidation of the Montgomery estate’s off-site storage unit.
Ethan had attached a sticky note to the cover: Found this in the back of Julian’s old safe. Thought you should have it.
