Chapter 6 - The Bank’s Final Verdict
The family court proceedings six weeks later were swift, clinical, and completely devastating to Derek's standing in the community.
The courtroom was entirely quiet, the high windows catching the clean, rhythmic ticks of the wall clock as the judge reviewed the case.
Skylar sat at the defense table, wearing a simple, elegant dark suit, her left cheek carrying a faint, fading red mark from the morning the coffee flew.
She didn't look at Derek, and she didn't look at Suzanne, who was sitting in the back row of the gallery looking pale and entirely stripped of her usual arrogance.
The prosecution didn't rely on emotional speeches; they simply presented the verified medical report and the photographs taken by the emergency room staff.
When the judge looked down from the bench, her expression was a mix of profound, professional disgust and absolute finality.
"Mr. Vance," the judge stated, her voice cutting through the quiet room like a scalpel.
"Your actions demonstrate a level of calculated entitlement that has no place in a civil society, let alone a marriage. You used physical violence to demand financial compliance from the woman who was funding your entire family's lifestyle."
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The court issued a permanent, unappealable protection order, paired with a total financial severance that stripped Derek of any claim to the Edgewater property or Skylar’s business assets.
He was ordered to pay full restitution for the medical expenses and the property damage, his personal insurance commissions garnished by the state to fulfill the judgment.
