Courtroom Drama
Manhattan Supreme Court, Part 41.
9:03 a.m. on a bitter March morning.
The courtroom smelled of old wood and fresh fear.
Ava sat at the defense table in a charcoal suit, spine straight, hands folded so tightly her knuckles were white.
Beside her, Lucian looked lethal in black tie knotted like armor, eyes scanning the gallery for threats.
Damien Voss’s civil suit had finally reached trial.
He wasn’t just contesting the inheritance anymore.
He’d gone nuclear, a $50 million defamation and fraud claim, alleging Ava had conspired to conceal Robert Harper’s true estate and used embezzled funds from Blackwell Enterprises five years ago to seed the hidden assets.
Translation, he was dragging the 2019 theft back into the light, trying to paint Ava as a career crimin
