Vance walked slowly out of the heavy doors of the mediation room and immediately fired his entire, high-priced legal team on the spot.
He coldly ordered the shocked lawyers to immediately withdraw every single aggressive custody petition and permanently drop all their ruthless intimidation tactics.
His aggressive lead attorney frantically warned him that showing such massive legal weakness would completely destroy his chances of ever winning the case.
Vance looked at the panicked lawyer with dead, completely empty gray eyes that held absolutely no ambition left in them.
He stated flatly that he did not want to win the war if winning meant completely destroying Maddie’s fragile peace of mind.
Meanwhile, Grant Ellison was busy proving exactly how incredibly dangerous and vindictive a bruised, billionaire ego could truly be.
Grant’s private security had easily tracked Maddie down to the incredibly modest, cramped, and drafty apartment she had quickly rented deep in Brooklyn.
He stood aggressively in the center of her tiny living room, looking around at the cheap, secondhand furniture with absolute, undisguised disgust.
Grant loudly and aggressively demanded that she immediately pack her bags and bring the children back to the safety of his luxury brownstone.
Maddie bravely stood her ground in the small kitchen, completely refusing to be ordered around like a piece of highly expendable corporate property.
Grant’s carefully constructed mask of the perfect, highly supportive, and deeply loving gentleman finally slipped completely off his face.
He angrily and cruelly reminded her of every single, exact dollar he had generously spent keeping her and the premature twins financially afloat.
He venomously told her that she deeply owed him her absolute loyalty, and he would absolutely not let her embarrass him in front of Vance Callahan.
Maddie looked calmly at the furious, red-faced man she had very nearly agreed to marry out of sheer desperation.
She finally realized with crystal clarity that Grant Ellison did not actually love Leo and Lily for the beautiful individuals they were.
He only loved them because they were living, breathing trophies that conclusively proved to the world he was a better man than Vance Callahan.
Maddie calmly walked over, opened the cheap wooden front door, and pointed a steady finger directly toward the dimly lit apartment hallway.
She bravely told Grant that she absolutely did not owe any man her entire soul just because he had generously paid a few medical bills.
Grant sneered at her, dangerously warning her that Vance’s newfound mercy was a trick and he would eventually destroy her again.
He angrily walked out the door, leaving Maddie completely alone in the cheap apartment, but for the very first time in years, she felt entirely, wonderfully free.