Ethan’s defense counsel, a perpetually sweating man who clearly realized he was steering the Titanic after it had already snapped in half, cleared his throat. “Your Honor, my client formally contests the validity of the Nevada marriage certificate. He was operating under severe emotional duress, manipulated by his subordinate, and heavily intoxicated during the signing.”
Judge Harrison’s left eyebrow ascended toward his hairline. “Duress? You are arguing a grown man was kidnapped and forced into a chapel against his will?”
Miranda stood up. The movement was smooth, lethal.
“Your Honor. I present Exhibit A through F.” She dropped a three-inch-thick binder onto the oak table. It landed with a concussive thud that made Ethan flinch. “Seventy-three pages of synchronized communication, banking transfers, and hotel receipts. Mr. Jensen premeditated this ‘duress’ for eleven months.”
She didn’t stop. She surgically dismantled him.
“Furthermore, Your Honor,” Miranda continued, projecting her voice to the gallery, “we have irrefutable proof that Mr. Jensen financed this secondary marriage by systematically siphoning funds from my client’s primary accounts. He is not a confused victim of intoxication. He is a predator who committed bigamy and financial fraud.”
She opened the binder and read the highlighted text aloud. “Can’t wait to see her stupid face when she realizes I took her for everything.”
The silence in the courtroom was absolute.
The judge slowly rotated his gaze from the transcript to Ethan. “Did you author this sentence, Mr. Jensen?”
Ethan swallowed audibly. “It’s… it’s entirely out of context, sir.”
“Please,” the judge leaned forward, his voice dripping with icy contempt, “enlighten this court as to what specific context makes stealing from your legal spouse to fund a bigamous wedding acceptable.”
Silence. Margaret pressed a tissue to her mouth. Rebecca stared at her lap, finally comprehending the sheer magnitude of the catastrophe she had tethered herself to.
The ruling was a swift, merciless decapitation.
Divorce: Granted immediately. The colonial house, the retirement portfolios, the liquid assets: Retained solely by me. Ethan was granted nothing but his leased vehicle—and the burden of its monthly payments.
“Additionally,” the judge hammered his final nail, “as the petitioner subsidized the respondent’s professional certifications during the marriage, Mr. Jensen is hereby ordered to remit six months of compensatory alimony to Ms. Jensen. Five hundred dollars monthly.”
