Chapter 7 - The Auction of Pride
By month three, the Montgomery family name had been entirely liquidated.
Because Daniel had used his personal assets as collateral for fraudulent loans, and because Patricia had signed indemnity agreements for his illicit ventures, the bankruptcy court ordered the total seizure and liquidation of all Montgomery family holdings to pay restitution to his victims—including Chloe Bennett and the defrauded clients of his former firm.
I stood in the grand ballroom of the Greenwich Country Club, where the court-ordered public auction was taking place.
The room was filled with the very people who had once kissed Patricia’s rings at charity galas: the high-society elite, art collectors, and real estate moguls. But today, they weren't here to socialize. They were here like vultures, picking over the carcass of the Montgomery dynasty.
On the auction block were Patricia’s prized possessions: her collection of vintage Hermès Birkin bags, her rare impressionist paintings, her diamond tiara inherited from her grandmother, and Daniel’s fleet of exotic sports cars.
"Lot forty-two," the auctioneer chanted. "A rare platinum Patek Philippe perpetual calendar, custom-engraved for Daniel Montgomery. Bidding starts at seventy-five thousand dollars."
"Eighty thousand," a man in the front row bid.
"Ninety," another called.
I raised my paddle with effortless grace. "Two hundred thousand."
The room went dead silent. Heads turned toward me. The society matrons whispered behind their gloved hands, their eyes wide with morbid fascination.
"Two hundred thousand to Mrs. Montgomery," the auctioneer called, his voice booming. "Going once... going twice... sold!"
I bought Daniel's watches. I bought Patricia's jewelry. I bought the oil paintings of his ancestors that had hung in their ancestral summer home in Newport. I spent three million dollars reclaiming every single shred of their family pride.
Beside me, Chloe Bennett smiled as the auction concluded.
"What are you going to do with all of it, Claire?" Chloe asked quietly.
"The jewelry and watches are being donated to a battered women's shelter foundation to be auctioned for transitional housing funds," I replied, watching the auction staff box up Patricia’s precious diamonds. "And the portraits of the Montgomery patriarchs?"
"What about them?"
May you like
"I’m having them delivered to the Bridgeport Correctional Center," I smiled. "So Daniel and his mother can remember exactly what their greed destroyed every single day of their sentences."
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