CHAPTER 5: THE FIRST HEARING
The courthouse was crowded before sunrise.
Reporters gathered outside after someone leaked that Harrington Commercial Group was connected to a multimillion-dollar fraud investigation.
Richard arrived through the main entrance with Vanessa beside him.
Khloe watched from Harrison’s car.
“They’re walking in together,” she whispered.
“He wants the cameras to see a united front,” Harrison replied.
“She’s supposed to be his employee.”
“Today she’s his witness.”
Inside the courtroom, Richard’s attorneys argued that Khloe had authorized the transfers and had become unstable after discovering her pregnancy.
They presented affidavits from employees claiming she frequently entered the corporate offices without permission.
They submitted emails in which she appeared to demand access to private financial records.
Every message was fabricated.
Then Dr. Adrian Leland testified that Richard had contacted him because Khloe displayed symptoms of paranoia, emotional volatility, and obsessive behavior.
The psychiatrist had never met her.
Harrison rose slowly.
“Dr. Leland, you diagnosed my client without examining her?”
“I offered a preliminary professional concern.”
“Based entirely on statements made by her husband?”
“Yes.”
“The same husband currently accused of hiding assets?”
Richard’s attorney objected.
The judge sustained it.
Not Judge Pierce.
Harrison’s emergency motion had forced Pierce to recuse himself that morning, citing an undisclosed personal conflict.
In his place sat Judge Elena Brooks, a former federal prosecutor known for disliking surprises.
Harrison presented the forged signatures beside genuine samples from Khloe’s architectural work.
“The signatures are nearly identical,” Richard’s lawyer said.
“They should be,” Harrison replied. “They were copied from the same digital source.”
He called a forensic document specialist who demonstrated that every disputed signature contained an identical microscopic flaw.
A human hand could not reproduce the same pressure pattern twelve times.
A computer could.
Judge Brooks froze the accounts and ordered Richard to surrender his passport.
Outside the courtroom, reporters surrounded Khloe.
Vanessa pushed through the crowd.
“You think you’ve won?” she hissed.
Khloe kept walking.
“You’re going to lose your husband, your house, and that baby.”
Harrison stepped between them.
“Say another word to my sister.”
Vanessa stared at him.
Then Richard appeared and pulled her away.
As they reached the top of the courthouse staircase, Vanessa looked over her shoulder.
Her eyes settled on Khloe’s stomach.
May you like
Something dark passed across her face.
And Harrison saw it.
