The sound my mother made was something between a gasp and a choke. Simon jumped out of his chair, his face turning bright red. “That’s a lie! My father left the company to me! We have the signed will!”
“You have a piece of paper that I am going to thoroughly enjoy sending to the District Attorney for a fraud investigation,” the judge snapped back, slamming his gavel down so hard it echoed like a gunshot. “Richard deliberately structured his holdings so that the real estate firm was held in a blind trust outside of his personal will—a trust I have been quietly managing, waiting for Rebecca to come of age and claim it.

I was told by your mother that Rebecca wanted to dissolve it.”

I pulled a thick, bound folder from my briefcase and placed it on the podium. “Your Honor, I never left the country. I was forced out of my family home. And I’ve spent the last two years compiling this.” I slid the folder toward the bailiff, who handed it up to the bench. “This contains comprehensive proof of embezzlement, offshore wire transfers, and blatant corporate fraud committed by Simon Jameson over the last twenty-four months, totaling nearly four million dollars.”

Simon looked like he was going to vomit. He physically stumbled backward, grabbing the edge of the plaintiff’s table to keep from falling over. My mother was completely frozen, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water, but no sound was coming out. The expensive designer suit Simon was wearing suddenly looked like a prison uniform in waiting.

Judge Fairbanks opened the folder, scanned the first few pages, and then looked back up at my family. The disgust on his face was palpable.
“I am denying the plaintiff’s petition to terminate the trust,” Judge Fairbanks announced, his voice ringing with absolute authority. “Furthermore, I am issuing an immediate emergency injunction freezing all personal and corporate assets belonging to Diane and Simon Jameson. I am officially activating the succession clause of the Jameson Corporate Trust, transferring full executive control to Rebecca Jameson, effective immediately.”