“You asked him in February if the transfer would clear before your designer’s invoice was due,” Lydia said, looking at Gianna as an email thread appeared on the screen. Gianna looked as though she wanted to disappear into the floorboards as the room witnessed her complicity in the fraud.
Judge Whitfield paused the recording and looked at Dominic with a gaze that could have frozen the air. “I believe we have seen enough to understand the intent and the conduct at play here,” the judge said.
The silence that followed was different than before, filled with the collective shame of a room that had realized they had cheered for the wrong side. Dominic no longer looked like a titan of industry; he looked like a cornered man whose mask had been stripped away in the most public way possible.
“Mr. Thorne, your request for custody is denied,” Judge Whitfield announced, his words carrying the weight of a final sentence. He added that the evidence of financial misconduct would be referred to the appropriate authorities for immediate criminal review.