Chapter 10 - Desperate Schemes and Hidden Frauds
By the end of Leo’s first month, Rowan Carter’s legal defense was disintegrating into a full-blown catastrophe.
Trapped in a dingy one-bedroom sublet in Queens after Selina was released on a twenty-thousand-dollar bond paid by an aggressive predatory bail bondsman, Rowan was sitting at a grease-stained laminate table with his court-appointed defense attorney, an exhausted man named Gregory Ross.
"Rowan, you have to take the plea deal," Ross said, slamming a three-inch-thick folder onto the table. "The U.S. Attorney’s Office is offering five years in federal prison if you plead guilty to wire fraud, tax evasion, and corporate embezzlement. If you reject this and go to trial against Sterling Global’s legal team, you’re looking at twenty-two years minimum."
"I am not taking a plea deal!" Rowan screamed, slamming his fist onto the laminate surface until his cheap coffee mug rattled. "I have a constitutional right to marital property! I was married to Phoebe Sterling for three years! Under New York State domestic relations law, all appreciation of assets during the marriage is subject to equitable distribution! She’s worth hundreds of millions of dollars! I want fifty million, or I'm taking her to full public trial!"
Gregory Ross looked at Rowan like he was a raving lunatic.
"Rowan, are you completely deaf?" Ross asked, rubbing his temples in sheer frustration. "Did you read the prenuptial agreement you signed four years ago?"
Rowan froze. "What prenuptial agreement? We never signed a prenup! Phoebe told me she didn't believe in them!"
"She didn't sign a prenup under the name Vance," Ross explained, pulling a certified document from the back of the folder. "When you opened your joint bank account at Chase four years ago, you signed a comprehensive electronic financial disclosure addendum that incorporated the Sterling Global Asset Protection Trust covenants. You signed an ironclad waiver forfeiting all claims to any trust assets, intellectual property, or inheritance in the event of proven marital abandonment or criminal misconduct."
Rowan’s jaw dropped. "She... she planned this from the very beginning?!"
"No, Rowan," Ross sighed, gathering his papers. "Her family’s estate lawyers set that standard protocol up when she turned eighteen. It protects her from grifters and gold-diggers. And based on the mountain of evidence the AG has collected, you fit that definition down to the millimeter."
Meanwhile, across town at the Federal Courthouse in Lower Manhattan, Marcus Vance was presenting an emergency motion to Judge Evelyn Thorne in Part 4 of the Family Court Division.
"Your Honor," Marcus argued, standing tall before the bench. "We are requesting the immediate and permanent termination of Mr. Rowan Carter’s parental rights based on documented abandonment, felony financial endangerment, and aggravated emotional cruelty during the birth of the minor child."
Marcus clicked a button on the podium’s media console.
The courtroom speakers crackled to life, playing the crystal-clear audio recording of Rowan’s phone call from the night of my labor:
"Handle it yourself, Phoebe. Stop being so dramatic... See? Mom gets it. Don't ruin Mom's dinner with your theatrics. Call an Uber, get an epidural, and take a nap..."
Judge Thorne, a stern, sixty-year-old jurist with a reputation for zero tolerance regarding child neglect, took off her glasses. Her eyes burned with cold indignation.
"Is this recording authenticated by forensic telecommunication experts?" Judge Thorne asked.
"Yes, Your Honor," Marcus replied. "Authenticated by both Verizon Wireless and the New York State AG’s digital forensics division. Furthermore, we have certified proof that while Miss Sterling was in active labor, Mr. Carter spent seven thousand eight hundred dollars of embezzled funds on vintage wine and luxury gifts at Le Petit Châtelet."
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Judge Thorne slammed her gavel down with a resounding CRACK that echoed through the marble chamber.
"Motion granted in full," Judge Thorne ruled. "Mr. Rowan Carter’s parental rights are suspended indefinitely pending criminal sentencing. An absolute, permanent order of protection is entered. Mr. Carter is prohibited from approaching within one thousand yards of the child, the mother, or any property associated with the Sterling Family Trust."
