On Halloween My Husband Bet I'd Never Leave Him So I Stopped Waiting novel · Chapter 14 of 24

Chapter 14: Clause Ten

The judge recessed us to chambers with a bailiff at the door, and Camille was taken to the hall to find a lawyer.

Tommaso laid the full deed on the judge's desk, with the loose page clipped behind the schedule.

"Where did you find this?" the judge asked.

"In the Milan vault, in a second sealed copy," he said. "Her father filed two. Ms. Dorsey took the first one from the courier. She did not know about the second."

My mother leaned forward.

"Read the rest of it aloud, please."

The judge read.

"The interest returns to the Ferraro family if the named friend is shown to have induced the abandonment. Proof must be put before the board of Kingsley Harbor within thirty days of the abandonment."

"Thirty days from the party," I said.

"Twenty left," said Tommaso.

"And the board has to rule on it."

"Yes."

"The same board that just ruled for her."

"The same board," said my mother. "Which is why we do not rush."

The judge handed the page back.

"Ms. Ferraro, I can't tell you how to win. I can tell you that I have never seen a petition die faster."

We walked out into the corridor.

Russell was waiting at the end of it, on a wooden bench, with his coat folded across his knees.

He stood up when he saw me.

Tommaso moved half a step forward, and I touched his sleeve.

"Five minutes," I told Russell.

"Thank you."

We went into an empty conference room with a long table and no windows.

He did not sit.

"I read the whole bet thread last night," he said. "The part I never saw. Her notes to Paolo about what I would say next."

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