Chapter 5

The day of the final trial arrived.

Right before entering the courtroom, Ethan gave my nervous father a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"Richard, relax. I've got this."

Then he turned to me, his hand resting on my shoulder for a brief, heavy second.

"Go sit in the gallery. Don't worry."

For a fleeting second, that touch felt warm. I felt a microscopic crack in the icy wall around my heart.

Maybe he really was as good as they said.

Maybe we could still save this.

Just as the bailiff announced the entry of the judge, Ethan's phone vibrated violently in his pocket. Three times in a row.

He pulled it out. His face went dead pale.

It was Hailey.

She was calling from a highway overpass, threatening to jump.

Ethan spun on his heel, preparing to bolt.

I reacted instantly, grabbing his briefcase with a white-knuckled grip.

"Ethan! The judge is literally walking in! This is the final trial!" My voice was shaking.

"Hailey is on an overpass, Maya! A life is on the line!"

He violently yanked his briefcase from my grip and turned to his assistant, Marcus. "Keep things moving. I'll get her down and be back in thirty minutes max!"

From the defense table, my weak, pale father spoke up, his voice trembling.

"Ethan... go. Go save her. A life is more important. Go."

Ethan seized the excuse instantly, throwing a commanding look at me. "You heard him, Maya. Look at the bigger picture!"

The bigger picture.

I watched his retreating back, too exhausted to even feel disappointed.

An hour and a half passed.

Ethan never returned.

Without their lead counsel, our defense crumbled under the prosecution's aggressive tactics. My father's face grew paler by the minute.

Unable to take it anymore, I ran out of the courtroom and dialed Ethan's number repeatedly.

First call, ignored.

Second call, he finally picked up.

Through the receiver, I could hear the loud, whipping wind of the highway, mixed with Hailey's pathetic, post-rescue whimpering.

"Ethan, I was so scared..."

I pressed my back against the freezing hallway wall, forcing my voice to remain steady.

"Ethan Vance, get back here right now! We have one last piece of crucial evidence that only you can legally submit!"

But his voice was entirely focused on comforting the woman in his arms.

"Hailey is still too hysterical. I can't leave her like this."

He even had the audacity to snap at me, "If you had this evidence, why didn't you remind me to submit it earlier?"

At that moment, a laugh escaped my lips.

Tears finally spilled over.

He had absolutely no idea that every single second I spent waiting in that court was like sitting on a bed of nails.

I quietly hung up the phone.

At 5:00 PM, the verdict was delivered.

My father lost. The company was ordered into immediate liquidation, leaving him personally liable for tens of millions of dollars in debt.

As the judge's gavel slammed down, my father turned to look at me. His lips parted, but before he could say a word, his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed straight onto the mahogany table.

"Dad!"

He had suffered a severe hemorrhagic stroke right there in the courtroom.

By 7:00 PM, Ethan and Hailey finally strolled into the hospital.

When he saw the red "ICU" sign and realized my father was fighting for his life, his usually composed face finally cracked.

"Maya, I..."

Without saying a word, I reached into my bag, pulled out a signed set of divorce papers, and slammed them directly into his chest.

"We are done, Ethan."

"And the moment my father wakes up, I am suing you for professional malpractice and negligence."

Hailey, standing nearby, tried to pull her usual act. "Maya, please don't blame Ethan. It's all my fault---"

"Shut up," I said, not even deigning to look at her as I walked toward the ICU doors.

Ethan reached out to grab my arm, but his phone rang. It was Marcus, and the call was on speaker.

Marcus's voice was filled with a mixture of panic and sheer rage.

"Mr. Vance, we have a massive problem! I just ran into the opposing counsel at a bar. They were celebrating... and one of them let slip that they had inside help. They said... Hailey leaked our entire defense strategy to them!"