Chapter 3 - The War of the Vance Clan
News of Bennett’s public humiliation at The Grandview Bistro spread through the Vance family network like wildfire. Within forty-eight hours, the forty relatives who had sat in that private dining room were divided into two warring factions.
On one side stood Margaret Vance and Bennett’s two younger brothers, who were desperate to cover up the family scandal. They launched a furious, malicious smear campaign against me across social media and family group chats, claiming I was a manipulative, secret-keeping gold-digger who had emotionally abused Bennett for years while secretly hoarding money behind his back.
On the other side stood Uncle Arthur, Walter Vance, and several older aunts who had been deeply disgusted by Margaret’s treatment of Hazel and Sophie. Walter, horrified by his son’s deceit and the realization that his grand birthday had been funded by the daughter-in-law he had ignored, officially cut off Bennett’s access to the family trust fund until Bennett repaid every dollar he owed.
By Friday afternoon, Bennett’s life was spiraling out of control.
Deprived of his father’s financial backing and facing an immediate freezing of our joint bank accounts by my legal team, Bennett moved into his mother Margaret’s suburban home.
It was there, in Margaret’s opulent, overly decorated living room, that the Vance inner council convened an emergency strategy meeting.
Margaret sat on her velvet sofa, clutching a lace handkerchief, her face red with bitter fury. Bennett sat across from her, looking disheveled, drinking whiskey straight from a glass, while his high-priced, aggressive defense attorney, Vance family retainer Richard Sterling, stood by the marble fireplace reviewing my divorce filing.
"This is an outrage!" Margaret snapped, slamming her tea cup onto the glass table. "That ungrateful little viper built a half-million-dollar company while living under my son’s roof! She ate his food, used his electricity, and used the Vance family name to elevate her social status! Half of that catering company belongs to Bennett!"
Richard Sterling adjusted his glasses, shaking his head grimly. "Mrs. Vance, I’ve reviewed the corporate filings Marcus Thorne provided. Catherine legally incorporated Hayes & Co. six months before she married Bennett. She used her personal inheritance as starting capital. Under state law, it is classified as separate, non-marital property."
"I don't care about the corporate filings!" Bennett shouted, slamming his whiskey glass down. "She lied to me! She let me believe she was penniless! She let my friends think I was supporting her!"
"Because you were abusing her financially, Bennett," Sterling muttered under his breath, though he quickly cleared his throat. "Regardless, our biggest hurdle right now isn't the company. It's the custody filing and the public narrative."
"What do you mean?" Margaret demanded, her eyes narrowing.
"Catherine’s attorney has submitted affidavits from the staff at The Grandview Bistro," Sterling explained, pulling out a sheaf of papers. "The manager, three waiters, and two busboys have all signed sworn statements confirming that you, Mrs. Vance, verbally humiliated the children, denied them food, and shoved a plate of spoiled leftovers at them while Bennett publicly stated his daughters were an 'embarrassment' because they weren't sons."
Margaret gasped, her face flushing with anger. "They were lying! I was simply teaching those girls discipline!"
"A judge won't see it as discipline," Sterling warned sternly. "A family court judge will see it as emotional cruelty and child neglect. If those statements are presented in open court during the temporary custody hearing next Tuesday, Bennett will lose all visitation rights instantly."
Bennett jumped to his feet, his eyes wild with desperate rage. "Then we destroy her credibility first! We make the court believe she’s an unfit, unstable mother who forced those girls to lie!"
"How do you propose to do that?" Sterling asked skeptically.
Margaret sat up straight, a dark, calculating smile spreading across her wrinkled face.
"Catherine runs a catering business," Margaret whispered, her voice dropping into a sinister tone. "A business that relies entirely on food safety, corporate reputation, and high-end clients."
Bennett looked at his mother, his interest piqued. "What are you thinking, Mom?"
"This weekend, Catherine’s company is catering the annual Governor’s Charity Gala at the Grand Plaza Hotel," Margaret said, her eyes gleaming with malice. "It’s the biggest contract of her career. Half the city’s elite will be there—including Judge Harrison, who happens to be presiding over your custody case next week."
"Mom..." Bennett breathed, a slow, evil grin spreading across his face. "If something went wrong with the food at that gala..."
"If eighty prominent guests get severe food poisoning," Margaret sneered, "Hayes & Co. will be ruined overnight. The health department will shut her down, her high-net-worth clients will sue her into bankruptcy, and Judge Harrison will see that Catherine is an incompetent, careless woman who cannot even handle food safety—let alone raise two young children."
Richard Sterling looked horrified. "Mrs. Vance, what you are suggesting is illegal! Tampering with a commercial catering contract is a felony!"
"Nobody is going to prove anything, Richard," Bennett sneered, throwing his empty glass into the fireplace where it shattered into a hundred pieces. "Catherine took my dignity last Sunday. Now, I’m going to destroy her life."
Unbeknownst to Bennett and Margaret, sitting outside on the terrace behind the heavy velvet drapes was Uncle Arthur Vance.
Arthur had come to the house to return Walter’s old military medals that Bennett had borrowed. He had heard every single word of their conspiracy through the cracked terrace door.
May you like
Arthur pulled his smartphone from his coat pocket, stepped quietly down the garden stairs into the shadows of the driveway, and hit speed dial.
"Catherine?" Arthur said, his voice trembling with outrage as I answered on the second ring. "Get Marcus Thorne on the line immediately. Your husband and his mother are planning to commit a crime at your gala tomorrow night."
