Chapter 6 - The Stripping of the Mistress
Vanessa Cross learned the true cost of her cruelty twenty-four hours later.
Deprived of her father's protection—who was forced to enter a corporate plea agreement to save himself from federal indictment—Vanessa was stripped of every stolen asset she had paraded in front of the world.
A court-ordered repossession team, led by my personal bailiffs, arrived at her luxury apartment in SoHo.
I stood on the sidewalk wearing an elegant beige wool coat, holding a coffee cup, watching as the bailiffs brought down armloads of designer clothes, jewelry, and luxury goods purchased with funds stolen from my children's accounts.
Vanessa rushed out onto the street, wearing sweatpants, her hair messy, tears streaming down her face as she tried to grab a velvet box from a bailiff's hands.
"You can't take those!" she shrieked, pointing at me. "Those are mine! Adrian bought those for me!"
"With my children's healthcare funds, Vanessa," I said calmly, taking a sip of my coffee. "Every item purchased with embezzled money is subject to immediate civil forfeiture under Federal Statute 981."
The head bailiff stepped out holding the black Birkin bag—the very bag she had carried into my hospital room to humiliate me while my blood was still drying on the sheets.
"Is this item listed under the restitution order, Mrs. Vance?" the bailiff asked me.
"Yes," I replied. "Auction it off. All proceeds go directly to the Mount Sinai Neonatal Intensive Care Unit."
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Vanessa dropped to her knees on the pavement, sobbing hysterically as her neighbors watched and took videos from their balconies. The glamorous, victorious mistress who had posed in my robe was completely gone, replaced by a broke, publicly disgraced co-conspirator awaiting trial.
I walked past her without a second glance, stepping into my car to return home to my babies.
