Chapter 9 - The Son’s Final Word
Vivian collapsed to her knees, right there on the velvet-lined floor of the pew, sobbing hysterically as the officers pulled her back up.
"You betrayed me!" she wailed at Ethan. "I am your mother! Everything I did, I did to keep this family's name alive! I did it for the estate!"
"You did it for yourself," Ethan replied, his voice echoing with finality.
He reached into the inner pocket of his tuxedo.
"And speaking of the estate," Ethan said, pulling out a thick, folded legal document.
He held it out so she could see the heavy gold seal of the county clerk.
"What is that?" Vivian gasped, struggling against the officers holding her arms.
"It's a deed," Ethan said. "You spent so much time trying to destroy Claire that you didn't read the papers I had you sign last month to 'restructure' the trust's tax liabilities."
Vivian’s eyes widened in horror.
"You signed over controlling interest of the trust to me. Irrevocably. Including the summer home, the downtown penthouses, and the estate you currently live in."
He reached into his other pocket and pulled out the heavy brass keys he had shown me in the hotel room.
"You don't own the house anymore, Mother," Ethan said gently, driving the final nail into the coffin of her pride. "I do."
He turned away from her and walked back over to me.
In front of four hundred stunned guests, in front of the police, in front of the weeping, handcuffed woman who had tried to destroy me, Ethan took my hand.
He placed the brass keys in my palm and folded my fingers over them.
"Happy wedding day, my love," he whispered.
"Take her away," the detective ordered.
The officers marched Vivian Mercer down the long, red-carpeted aisle.
She dragged her feet, weeping, screaming her son's name, but no one moved to help her. Her wealthy friends looked away in disgust. The board members were already dialing their crisis management PR teams.
The woman who had demanded I know my place was hauled out of the chapel in handcuffs, her legacy reduced to ashes in less than twenty minutes.
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When the heavy doors finally closed behind the police, sealing the silence back into the chapel, Ethan turned to the priest.
"Father," Ethan said politely, adjusting his cuffs. "I believe we were at the rings."
