Chapter 6 - Robert's Wrath
The heavy glass doors of Mount Sinai swung open at exactly 7:45 AM.
Robert walked in, followed by two junior associates carrying thick leather briefcases and Marcus Vance, a tall, gray-haired attorney whose courtroom reputation struck terror into corporate boards across the eastern seaboard.
Robert had aged since our divorce, his dark hair now streaked with silver, but the razor-sharp intensity in his eyes was unchanged. He didn't look at the nurses, the guards, or the monitors. His eyes locked onto Chloe.
"Dad," Chloe choked out, her voice breaking the moment she saw him.
Robert crossed the room in two strides, knelt beside the bed, and wrapped his arms around her with infinite care, minding the cast on her arm. He didn't say *I told you so.* He didn't ask why she had defended Lewis when he had questioned the prenup months ago. He simply held his daughter while she sobbed into his shoulder.
"You're safe, Chloe," Robert whispered, kissing the top of her head. "Nobody touches my girl. Nobody."
After ten minutes, Robert stood up and turned to Marcus Vance.
"Marcus."
"I'm already on it, Robert," Vance said, opening a file. "We’ve filed an emergency ex parte order of protection against both Lewis Dudley and Victoria Dudley. Judge Martinez signed it twenty minutes ago. If either of them comes within five hundred feet of Chloe, Sarah, or any property associated with them, it’s an automatic felony violation."
"That’s just the defensive play," Robert said coldly, adjusting the cuffs of his tailored shirt. "What’s the offense?"
"First-degree attempted grand larceny by extortion, second-degree assault, false imprisonment, and coercion," Vance replied without missing a beat. "Furthermore, my investigators did a preliminary sweep of Lewis Dudley’s finances at 5:00 AM."
Vance pulled out a financial dossier and handed it to Robert.
I leaned over to read the highlighted figures, and my stomach turned.
"He isn't a partner," Vance explained. "He was suspended without pay three weeks ago for misappropriating client escrow funds. He owes over $900,000 to high-interest private lenders and another $400,000 in gambling markers in Atlantic City. The Dudley family estate in Westchester? It’s in default. Victoria has been running a Ponzi scheme of social credit, borrowing against non-existent trust funds to maintain appearances."
"The wedding," I whispered, horrified. "The entire wedding was a liquidity event."
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"Precisely," Vance said. "They needed Chloe’s $1.8 million condo unencumbered so they could take out an immediate hard-money bridge loan to satisfy the creditors before the New York State Bar Disciplinary Committee convened next Tuesday."
Robert’s jaw muscles flexed. "They picked the wrong prey."
