Chapter 5: The Legal Demolition
Chapter 5: The Legal Demolition
The civil proceedings inside the Cook County Chancery Court were not a trial; they were a systematic liquidation of Regina Vance’s remaining legal leverage.
Regina sat at the defense table next to a public defender—her father’s high-priced corporate defense attorneys having officially abandoned her the moment she was dropped from the family trust to save the parent company from criminal indictment. Across the courtroom, Maya sat next to Julian Sterling and Eleanor Vance, Arthur’s estranged sister, who had broken away from the family decades ago to fund independent women’s shelters across the Midwest.
Eleanor Sterling, the legendary lead litigator for the New Horizon Foundation, stood before the judge’s bench, her voice echoing off the high marble walls like a tolling bell.
"Your Honor," Eleanor said, laying a thick, audited financial ledger onto the clerk's desk. "The defendant didn't just engage in a pattern of workplace harassment; she participated in a multi-year conspiracy to commit intellectual property theft, commercial extortion, and system-level blacklisting against Miss Maya Lin. We have recovered the deleted server logs from Vance Global Events showing that Regina Vance personally downloaded Miss Lin’s digital portfolios from the Antwerp Academy registry and used them to pitch three separate corporate gala designs to international clients, all while forcing Miss Lin to clear the trash from those very same events."
The judge, a formidable woman with thirty years of experience on the bench, looked over her reading glasses at Regina. "Miss Vance, do you have any documentation to dispute these digital access logs? Any evidence that you did not intentionally misuse your corporate position to exploit and plagiarize this young woman’s creative property?"
Regina’s public defender stood up slowly, his voice lacking any real conviction. "Your Honor, my client acknowledges the mistakes made during the evening of the gala, but we ask the court to consider that she was acting under extreme corporate stress and has already suffered total loss of employment and personal asset liquidations."
"Extreme stress is not a defense for systemic corporate slavery, counselor," the judge ruled, her tone freezing. She slammed her heavy wooden gavel down with a sharp, definitive bang that resonated through the quiet courtroom.
"The court finds completely in favor of the plaintiff. All remaining intellectual property rights associated with the Vance Luxury catalog are hereby transferred to the Lin Creative Foundation. Furthermore, the defendant is ordered to perform five hundred hours of mandatory community service—specifically assigned to the sanitation and maintenance divisions of the city’s public transit authority. This matter is concluded."
As the courtroom began to empty, Regina stayed slumped in her chair, staring blankly at the polished wood table in front of her. Maya walked past the defense table, pausing for just a fraction of a second to look down at the woman who had thought her gray uniform made her invisible.
May you like
Regina looked up, her eyes wide and rimmed with bitter tears. "You took everything from me, Maya. My name, my company, my future. Are you happy now?"
Maya looked at her with a gentle, profound pity that cut deeper than any insult ever could. "I didn't take anything from you, Regina. I just let the world see who you were when you didn't have a red carpet to hide behind. I hope you learn how to clean up your own mess. The floor is waiting."
