Chapter 16 - The Restitution Clause
"What Section 12?" Victoria hissed under her breath, grabbing her lawyer’s sleeve. "What is she talking about?"
"Silence in the court," Judge Vance warned, his eyes narrowing as he took the Treasury document from Natalie’s outstretched hand.
The courtroom fell into an excruciating quiet. The only sound was the rustle of eighty-year-old parchment being smoothed flat against the mahogany bench. Judge Vance read slowly, his eyebrows climbing higher with every passing paragraph.
"This document," Judge Vance said, his voice echoing off the high plaster ceilings, "bears the verified seal of the Federal District Court of New York, dated October 1932. It carries the signature of Charles Bellamy Sr., countersigned by the Attorney General."
Judge Vance looked over his glasses directly at Victoria Bellamy.
"Ms. Bellamy, your purported lease claim relies entirely on the validity of the Bellamy Trust’s original ownership of the port lands. But this federal order establishes that all assets acquired by Charles Bellamy Sr. between 1929 and 1934 were derived from fraudulent conversion of Mercer maritime union funds."
"Your Honor!" Victoria’s attorney stammered, scrambling through his papers. "This is an ambush! We have had no opportunity to review—"
"The decree contains a self-executing forfeiture clause," Judge Vance cut him off mercilessly. "Any attempt by a Bellamy heir to claim title against a Mercer heir triggers an immediate, non-appealable lien over every parent company, subsidiary, and offshore holding belonging to the Bellamy estate."
Reporters in the gallery began furiously typing on their laptops. Victoria rose to her feet, her hands trembling with rage.
"This is impossible!" she snarled, dropping all composure. "My grandfather owned those ships! My mother owned that land! You Mercer parasites have hidden behind Eleanor’s lies for half a century!"
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"Your mother threw dirty water because your grandfather knew this day would come," Daniel said, standing tall without his cane. "Eleanor took the blow so that justice would have time to mature. The port is ours, Victoria. And according to that decree... so is Nemesis Holdings."
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