Chapter 6 - The Fall of the Chens
By noon that day, the lobby of Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s private executive wing looked like a war zone command post.
Jonas had stationed eight armed guards in tailored suits at every elevator bank, staircase, and exit. No one entered the floor without my personal biometric clearance.
Inside the private recovery suite—where Elena had been moved alongside a specialized transport incubator containing our daughter—the news was playing on a muted television mounted on the wall:
BREAKING NEWS: CHEN GLOBAL CEO ARRESTED IN MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR FRAUD & EXTORTION SCHEME. STOCKS PLUMMET 85%.
Elena lay resting in the large hospital bed, holding our baby girl against her bare chest for her very first skin-to-skin contact. The sight was so painfully beautiful I could barely stand it. The baby’s dark hair was resting right under Elena’s chin, her tiny mouth letting out small snuffles of content sleep.
A soft knock sounded at the door. Jonas stepped inside, looking grim.
“Boss,” Jonas said softly. “Arthur Chen’s lead attorney is downstairs. He’s demanding a face-to-face meeting. He says if you don't drop the civil injunctions and release Chen’s frozen offshore accounts, he’s going to release private medical records to the press claiming the baby was born out of wedlock to damage Vance Enterprises’ public stock.”
Elena’s eyes widened with anxiety. Her grip on the baby tightened slightly. “Julian...”
I stood up from my chair beside the bed, smoothing down my suit coat.
“Stay here with her,” I told Elena softly, bending down to kiss her lips, then kissing the top of my daughter’s warm head. “I’ll be back in five minutes.”
I walked out into the private glass-walled conference room down the hall.
Sitting at the long table was Arthur Chen’s senior lawyer, a arrogant man named Vance Sterling, dressed in a three-thousand-dollar suit, holding a leather briefcase. Standing beside him, looking disheveled, pale, and terrified, was Madison Chen.
She looked entirely different from the arrogant woman who had complained about bleach smells two nights ago. Her designer clothes were rumpled, her makeup smeared, and her eyes wide with frantic desperation.
“Julian!” Madison cried out, taking a step toward me. “Please! Tell these guards to let us go! My father didn't do anything wrong! It was all a misunderstanding—”
“Sit down, Madison,” I said, my voice deadlier than a loaded gun.
She shrank back into her chair instantly.
Attorney Sterling cleared his throat, trying to regain his composure. “Mr. Vance. Let’s be pragmatic. My client, Mr. Richard Chen, is prepared to sign a full waiver relinquishing all real estate claims in Chicago if you drop the criminal extortion charges. If you refuse... we will launch a publicity campaign that will frame your ex-wife as an unstable woman who hid an heir to manipulate stock prices.”
I walked slowly to the head of the conference table, leaning forward on my hands, staring straight into Sterling’s eyes.
“You brought a knife to a missile launch, Counselor,” I said quietly.
I tapped the glass table. Jonas stepped forward and set three heavy blue folders in front of Sterling.
“Inside those folders,” I explained, my voice smooth and icy, “are recorded wiretaps authorized by the State Attorney’s Office. They detail your client’s direct involvement in human trafficking, bribery of federal judges, and three counts of attempted murder via proxy. Furthermore, my legal team filed paper work two hours ago with the Vatican and the Circuit Court of Cook County.”
Sterling frowned, his hands trembling as he opened the folder. “What paperwork?”
“Elena and I were never legally divorced,” I revealed with a cold, triumphant smile.
Madison gasped loudly, clutching her chest. “What?!”
“The judge who signed our divorce decree eight months ago was bribed by Richard Chen,” I explained. “My legal team had the decree vacated this morning due to fraud and conflict of interest. Elena Ashford is—and has always been—my legal, lawful wife, Mrs. Elena Vance.”
I stepped closer to Sterling, leaning down until my face was inches from his.
“Which means my daughter was born inside a legal, sacred marriage,” I whispered. “Which means every single asset owned by Chen Global that was fraudulently taken from Vance Enterprises now belongs to my family trust. By five o'clock today, Richard Chen will be in maximum security, Madison will be homeless, and you, Counselor, will be disbarred for conspiracy.”
Sterling’s face turned completely white. He dropped his pen, looking at the documents in utter horror.
Madison burst into frantic, hysterical tears, dropping to her knees beside my chair. “Julian! Please! I loved you! I didn't know my father was threatening her! I swear I didn't know!”
I didn't even look down at her.
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“Jonas,” I said, walking toward the door. “Escort them off my property. If either of them speaks my wife’s name again... destroy what’s left of them.”
I walked out of the room, leaving Madison’s desperate screams behind me, and walked back down the quiet, secure hallway toward the only place in the world that mattered.
