Chapter 19 - The Eviction of Montgomery Crest
Within forty-eight hours, the legal dam burst.
The County Court didn't just throw out Clara’s lawsuit with prejudice; the presiding judge issued an order for sanctions against Clara’s attorneys for filing a frivolous and bad-faith complaint. The lien on my house was dissolved with the strike of a gavel.
By Friday afternoon, the local evening news was broadcasting live from the base of the Montgomery Tower. The city had issued a stop-work order on Richard Montgomery’s billion-dollar riverfront development project pending a comprehensive forensic engineering audit.
Brandon and I stood on the back porch of my home, watching the broadcast on a small portable television on the patio table.
On the screen, reporters swarmed Richard Montgomery as he emerged from the county courthouse, his coat pulled over his head, flanked by criminal defense attorneys who looked far less confident than the ones he had brought to the deposition.
And then Clara appeared.
She was walking down the steps behind her father, entirely alone. No cameras were turned toward her. No social media influencers were holding ring lights. She was wearing an oversized trench coat, her designer sunglasses failing to hide the red, swollen misery of her face. When a reporter bumped into her shoulder, he didn't even apologize; he was too busy trying to get a microphone in front of her father.
Brandon watched the screen in complete silence. He didn't smile. There was no joy in his eyes, only the deep, exhausting relief of a man who had barely survived a shipwreck.
"She called me this morning," Brandon said quietly, staring out at the tomato plants.
"Did she?" I asked.
"She wanted me to tell the prosecutors that Dad’s logbook was an old draft. That it wasn't official." Brandon shook his head slowly. "She offered to sign the divorce papers without contesting a single asset if I just got the union to drop the AG investigation."
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"And what did you say, son?"
"I told her that the truth doesn't negotiate," Brandon said. He looked down at his father’s hammer resting on the toolbox. "I told her that Dad built things to last, and what she built was made of paper."
