Chapter 13 - The Mistress's Reckoning
Winter settled hard over the city of Richmond, Virginia.
In a cramped, fluorescent-lit legal aid office downtown, Brielle Vance sat opposite a public defender named Sarah Chen.
Brielle was seven months pregnant now, her face pale, drawn, and stripped of the glamorous veneer she had worn at the private clinic.
Her blonde hair was pulled back in an unwashed, greasy ponytail, secured with a cheap plastic band.
She wore an oversized thrift-store sweater that did little to hide the swelling outline of her child.
Her nails were chipped down to the quick, and dark circles shadowed her sunken blue eyes.
"Ms. Vance, I'm going to be very direct with you," Sarah Chen said, tapping a red pen against a thick stack of civil summons.
"The St. Jude's Women's Center has filed a civil judgment against you for seven thousand four hundred dollars in unpaid medical diagnostics."
"Your former landlord has secured an eviction warrant and a garnishment order for your bank accounts."
"What bank accounts?" Brielle sobbed, covering her face with her trembling hands.
"I don't have twenty dollars to my name! Marcus took every single cent from the joint account before he ran to Costa Rica!"
"The police are treating Marcus Vance as a fugitive for commercial fraud, not as an active co-parent," Sarah Chen countered coldly.
"And Preston Hale?" Brielle asked through her tears, desperate for any shred of financial relief.
"He was there! He held my hand! Can't we file an emergency child support petition against him?"
Sarah Chen pulled a certified legal document from the folder and pushed it across the laminate desk.
"I already ran the paternity records submitted by the Hale family's former counsel."
"The non-invasive molecular test conducted at twenty-four weeks demonstrates zero percent biological relationship."
"Under state law, Mr. Hale has zero financial, parental, or custodial liability for this child."
"Furthermore, Mr. Hale's personal income currently sits at minimum wage, with an active civil bankruptcy claim against his remaining assets."
"Even if you could establish an equitable estoppel argument—which you cannot—there is no money to collect."
Brielle let out a hollow, wretched groan, clutching her heavy stomach as the unborn baby shifted beneath her ribs.
"I did what Marcus told me to do," she wept, her voice breaking into pathetic whimpers.
"He said the Hales were so obsessed with having a boy that they would write a check for a million dollars without batting an eye."
"He said Preston was an idiot who would believe anything as long as it stroked his pride."
"Well, he was right about Preston being an idiot," Sarah Chen said without an ounce of sympathy.
"But he was wrong about the outcome. And you participated in a calculated fraud."
"So what do I do?" Brielle cried out, looking wildly around the sterile office.
"Where do I go when the baby comes? I don't have an apartment! I don't have a family!"
Sarah Chen picked up a small blue pamphlet from the corner of her desk and slid it across the table.
"This is the contact information for the county shelter for expectant mothers," the lawyer said evenly.
"You can apply for temporary public housing and emergency Medicaid."
"They provide shared dormitory housing and basic nutrition assistance for sixty days postpartum."
Brielle stared at the cheap paper pamphlet, her fingers trembling as she picked it up.
Only four months ago, she had been dining at five-star steakhouses, picking out designer nurseries, and boasting of marrying into a dynasty.
She had looked at Lena Hartwell’s quiet life with smug, condescending pity, believing she had outsmarted a devoted wife.
Now, the wife was commanding an entire military theater on another continent.
And Brielle was left with a flyer for a homeless shelter and an unborn child whose father was hiding in South America.
"This is a nightmare," Brielle whispered, tears dripping onto the county pamphlet.
May you like
"No, Ms. Vance," Sarah Chen said, closing her leather case and standing up.
"This is simply the cost of the choices you made."
