By late afternoon, news of the broken engagement had sent shockwaves through the Dallas elite social circles. Victoria's father, Richard Vance, stormed into the Sterling mansion lobby accompanied by two high-priced corporate attorneys in gray charcoal suits.
Richard: Sterling! What is the meaning of this insult to my family?! My daughter came home crying uncontrollably!
Julian: Hello, Richard. I see you brought your legal team to my front foyer.
Richard: You humiliated Victoria! You cancelled a public wedding two months before the date! Do you have any idea what this does to our family's standing?!
Julian: Your daughter verbally abused my grieving son and told him she would ship him off to a boarding school against my knowledge.
Richard: She was trying to instill discipline in a chaotic household! The boy is out of control!
Julian: My household is not chaotic, Richard. It is healing. And your daughter is no longer welcome on this property.
Richard: Then consider your shipping line's thirty-million-dollar credit facility revoked as of five o'clock today! You'll be bankrupt by the end of the quarter!
Julian walked calmly over to his mahogany desk in the adjoining parlor, pulling out a thick manila folder and tossing it onto the marble table in front of the attorneys.
Julian: Go ahead and revoke it, Richard. But before you do, your lawyers might want to review section seven of your firm's offshore holding accounts.
One of the senior attorneys picked up the folder, opening it and skimming the financial audit documents inside. Within seconds, the lawyer's face drained of all color.
Attorney: Mr. Vance... we need to leave immediately.
Richard: What are you talking about?! Demand he honor the marriage settlement contract!
Attorney: Sir, Mr. Sterling has full forensic evidence of the embezzlement schemes your daughter's trust fund has been operating through our credit channels. If this goes to the federal prosecutor, you will be facing indictment by morning.
Richard: What... what is he talking about, Julian?!
Julian: Victoria wasn't marrying me because she loved me, Richard. She was using my estate's clean liquidity to cover the twenty-million-dollar hole your firm created in offshore accounts.
Richard: You... you knew this whole time?!
Julian: I suspected financial irregularities two weeks ago. But I gave her the benefit of the doubt because I thought she truly cared for Toby. Today, she proved she didn't care about anything except money.
Attorney: Mr. Vance, we are leaving right now. We need to prepare a defense strategy before the federal marshals are notified.
Richard stared at Julian in sheer terror, realizing that his family's grand empire was crumbling into dust before his very eyes.
Richard: Julian, please... we can work out a settlement! Don't release those documents to the press!
Julian: I won't have to release them, Richard. The federal auditors are already waiting in your office building down town. Have a safe drive back.
The attorneys practically dragged the trembling older man out of the front doors, leaving Julian standing in the bright, sunlit hallway, finally free from the toxic web that had surrounded his life[cite: 1].