Billionaire Attempted to Divorce His “Poor” Wife for His Mistress – Until Her Royal Title Left Everyone Stunned…
“You can’t do that!” Liam screamed. “I’m the VP! I brought in the Vance account!”.
“Actually,” Jessica interrupted. “My daddy doesn’t do business with unemployed losers. Consider the account pulled”.
“Don’t Jess me,” she scoffed. “You lied to me too! You said she was a nobody! I’m not getting dragged into this mess”.
Jessica turned to Emily. “Your Highness, I had no idea. He told me you were—”.
“I know what he told you,” Emily said coolly. “But you were happy to mock a woman you thought was poor. You broke my pottery. You laughed at my life. You are just as small as he is, Jessica. You just have better shoes”.
Emily snapped her fingers. “Escort Mr. Sterling out,” Emily commanded. “And ensure he doesn’t take the company car. He can take the subway. I hear it’s good for building character”.
“Emily, please!” Liam shouted as the guards grabbed his arms. “Emily, I’m sorry! I love you! We can work this out!”.
Emily didn’t look back. She turned to the stunned crowd. “I apologize for the disturbance,” she said with a gracious smile. “Now please enjoy the evening. The drinks are on me”.
The room erupted in applause. Liam was thrown out the front doors of the museum into the rainy New York night. He realized then that he had held a winning lottery ticket in his pocket for seven years, and he had thrown it in the trash for a shiny penny. He stood in the rain in his $5,000 tuxedo and began to walk toward the subway.
The story wasn’t over. Emily had won the battle, but Liam wasn’t the type to stay down, and Jessica Vance wasn’t used to being humiliated. As Emily celebrated inside, a different kind of plot was hatching in the darkness of a limousine parked just down the street.
Liam walked three blocks in the pouring rain before his soaked tuxedo shoes gave him blisters. He was shivering, furious, and his mind was racing like a trapped rat.
A long silver Bentley pulled up alongside him. “Get in,” a gruff voice commanded.
Sitting across from him was Marcus Vance, Jessica’s father. Jessica was sitting next to him, looking sullen and refusing to make eye contact with Liam.
“Mr. Vance,” Liam shivered. “Look, what happened back there was a disaster—”.
Vance cut him off. “You humiliated my daughter. You brought my name into a public circus. I should throw you out of this moving car”.
“She’s a princess,” Vance corrected him coldly. “And now she owns the company that manages 20% of my portfolio. You are an unemployed nobody who couldn’t spot a diamond when it was sleeping in his own bed”.
“I can fix this,” Liam leaned forward. “I know her weaknesses. She’s soft, Marcus. She plays the tough role now, but inside she’s still the mouse who used to clip coupons. We can break her”.
Vance asked, “Jessica says you filed for divorce. On what grounds?”.
“Irreconcilable differences, the usual,” Liam waved his hand dismissively. “I let her keep the old car. I wanted a clean break”.
Vance laughed. “You idiot. You filed a legal document stating she had no assets to divide. But she did. She had billions. Hidden billions”.
Vance turned to the man in the passenger seat. “Jenkins, what’s the New York state law on hiding assets during a marriage?”.
“It’s considered fraud upon the court, Mr. Vance. If proven, the judge can invalidate the entire divorce agreement. In punitive cases, they can award 100% of the hidden assets to the aggrieved spouse”.
Liam breathed, “You mean—”.
“I mean,” Vance sneered, “that if we play this right, you aren’t the poor ex-husband. You’re the victim of an international con artist. If she hid her royal status and her fortune to trick you into a cheap divorce, you could be entitled to half of everything: half of her trust, half of Vanguard Global”.
The greed washed over Liam. “We need proof,” Vance said sharply. “We need to prove she actively deceived you, not just that you were too stupid to ask. We need emails, texts, documents where she claimed poverty”.
“I have them,” Liam said. “The texts where she said we couldn’t afford vacation. The emails about budgeting for groceries. I have all of it on my old laptop in the apartment”.
Vance turned to Jessica. “You still have the keys to his place?”.
“Yeah, I was going to have the locks changed tomorrow”.
“Jenkins, call the legal team. Wake them up. I want a subpoena ready by 9:00 a.m. Monday. We’re suing Her Royal Highness for marital fraud. We’re going to freeze her assets before she can even sit in the chairwoman’s chair”.
Vance turned back to Liam. “You’re my dog in this fight, Sterling. I’m backing you, but don’t mistake this for kindness. If you screw this up, I won’t just fire you; I will bury you so deep in lawsuits you’ll need a shovel to find hell”.
Emily thought she had won. She had just awakened the real beasts of the concrete jungle. Liam wasn’t just fighting for his job anymore; he was fighting for half a kingdom.
The conference room at Vance, Reed, and Cromwell was on the 50th floor. On one side sat Liam, flanked by Marcus Vance and four expensive litigators. On the other side sat Emily, alone save for Arthur, looking calm, almost bored.
The lead lawyer slid a thick stack of papers across the table. “Your Highness, we have filed an emergency injunction this morning. We have clear evidence… proving that for seven years you systematically defrauded Mr. Sterling by misrepresenting your financial status”.
Liam leaned forward. “You played the poor little match girl, Emily! You made me pay for everything while you were sitting on a gold mine. I want my half!”.
Emily just looked at Liam. “You want half of the Duchy of Valoria? It’s a sovereign nation, Liam. You can’t split a country in divorce court”.
Vance growled, “We are targeting your personal holdings. The trust funds, the Vanguard shares. We know they are held in your name”.
The lawyer offered a settlement: “Mr. Sterling will drop the fraud charges and agree to a quiet divorce in exchange for a lump-sum payment of $50 million and the reinstatement of his position at Vanguard”.
Emily laughed. “50 million and his job back? Liam, you really are a dreamer”.
“It’s better than losing half of everything in court!” Liam snapped. “You defrauded me!”.
Emily turned to Arthur and nodded slightly. Arthur opened the slim leather portfolio. He removed a single aged piece of paper.
“Do you know what the most important lesson of finances is, Liam?” Emily asked quietly.
“Don’t spend what you don’t have,” Liam sneered.
