Chapter 345: Mija was right.
Nobody needed to explain why Lamby was a gold-tail. No 28 year old woman married an 82 year old man out of love.
Cassian sneered. "And don’t forget her late-night escapades. The servants have seen her flirting and acting inappropriately with some of our younger male relatives and nobles who visit. Infidelity, plain as day."
Lamby’s eyes glittered. "Lies! I am not a gold-tail, Bucky promised me half the estate when he married me."
"Do you have that in writing?" Sienna asked.
At the same time, the lawyers who worked for the office were going through the papers and evidence both sides had submitted.
Lamby shook her head. "But a verbal promise still counts."
Lord Buck Fenton coughed before sharing in a gravelly voice, "I gave her jewels and land. Whatever I gave her, my lawyers already transferred to her names. She betrayed me, so she doesn’t deserve anything else. She dishonored the Fenton name."
When Sienna looked the reasons given for why the couple wanted a divorce, it was marked irreconcilable differences. The infidelity had not been mentioned. She leaned forward. "Lady Lamby, did you commit adultery?"
Lamby smirked. "I am an actress, I have many admirers. If sharing a drink or posing for photos with a few is adultery, then yes. But Bucky is no saint either. He still visits courtesans in St. Vitts and has a mistress in every city, from every beast tribe. Ask Darius, he pays the bills."
Gasps filled the room.
Elan rose. "Grandfather, is this true?"
Buck’s face reddened. "Child, these are matters for adults."
Mija whispered to Sienna, "That’s a yes."
Meanwhile Lael shouted, "She’s lying! Grandfather is honorable, she is the snake here!"
Sienna grabbed Mija, the same way Lyra grabbed Lael. Following the rise of noise in the room, Sienna had to slap the table a few times to silence everyone.
"Obviously this marriage is over." She said in a tired voice. "What we must discuss is a division of assets--"
"Nothing is being divided." Darius bellowed.
Sienna grimaced. She could see why Judge Boniface had sent the case down to her. It would take a miracle for these people to agree on the division of assets. No matter how the ruling went, every side would sue and keep suing until Buck or Lamby died.
"What other promises were you made, Lamby?" Sienna asked.
Lamby’s voice dripped venom. "He said I would inherit half the main Fenton estate. The fur processing factory, the entertainment company---"
"That’s my mother’s company!" Darius roared. "Do you see what I am talking about, Lady Sienna? She twisted his grief. Mother had just died, and she slithered in with her white tail and false tears, plotting to steal my mother’s company."
Cassian added, "She drained our father’s accounts. Took our mother’s jewelry, gowns, shoes, scripts....anything she could get her hands on. She spends more in a month than the estate earns in a year."
Marcellus muttered, "And yet our father let her. He was bewitched. She must have used fox seduction on him."
Bucky’s cane trembled. "I was not bewitched, I loved her. I gave her everything of my own free will. My greatest shame is that she had these affairs that humiliated me. I couldn’t admit to it in court, but in this office, I am not ashamed to tell the truth."
Sienna’s eyes narrowed. "Is there proof? Do you have names?"
Cassian grinned. "Start with my name."
Gasps filled the room as Cassian continued. "Before she married my father, I met her at an orgy. After she married my father, I didn’t touch her out of respect for him, but I knew what she was. A whore. She slept with our cousins Vivek and Gru. She also slept with a few of the stable hands. Her lady parts are as elastic as a fisherman’s net."
More gasps filled the room. In that moment, Sienna realized that Mija was right, other families drama was always better than your own family drama.
"Lies." Lamby cried out. "Baseless rumors. I was simply working at that orgy. It was a networking event. Bucky dallied with courtesans. He humiliated me first. If I slept with any man it was out of revenge."
Elana shouted, "Grandmother would be so ashamed. She would never have allowed a woman like this into our home. You dishonor her memory, all of you."
Lael sneered. "Grandmother is gone. Whoremby is the problem now."
Mija whispered to Sienna, "This is better than any movie La---sorry, Whoremby has ever acted in."
The screaming match continued, both sides shouting accusations. Lamby accused Bucky of having a male mistress and Elana nearly clawed off Lamby’s nose. Lord Bucky was red in the face, it seemed like he was struggling to breathe out of anger.
"Will you be adding orgy worker on your resume from now on?" Darius taunted Lamby.
"I think she knows that it is over for her." Mija whispered to Sienna. "After these orgy revelations, Lamby knows Lael with tell the whole world about it. The Fentons are going to use it to ruin her. The only way to survive from here on is to take as much money as she can from them."
Sienna raised her hand. "Enough. Truth, not insults. Lord and Lady Fenton, I think we should deal with the divorce first and then division of assets after. If you are both willing, the divorce papers can be signed right now. After a week, you can return with your lawyers and we handle the assets. Does this work for both of you."
Neither side replied.
Sienna sighed. "I have fifteen minutes left on the clock before heading home to handle my own family drama. Make up your minds while I am still available. If all that is going to be accomplished here is a screaming match with no winners, then I might as well call it a day. Otherwise, the divorce papers are going to be signed today, even if I have to hold your hands myself. If anyone has any final statements to make before I give a ruling, now is the time."
Buck struggled to his feet, cane trembling. "It is the greatest shame of my life that I ever shared a bed with something like you, Lamby. I--"
His words cut off. His eyes rolled back. The can clattered.
"Father!" Darius screamed.
"Grandfather!" Elana cried.
Lael gasped, clutching her chest. "No...no..."
Lord Bucky Fenton collapsed, lifeless, before Sienna had the chance to deliver judgement.
Chaos erupted. Sons shouted, grandchildren wailed, Lael shrieked "murderer" at Lamby and Lamby shouted her innocence.
Sienna froze, the divorce papers on the table now useless. The case had transformed from divorce into inheritance war.
Mija hissed. "Well...what now?"
Sienna’s eyes narrowed. "Now, the enforcers decide if it is a natural death or murder, and who benefits most from his death if it is murder. Also, we send it back to Judge Boniface. This battle is just getting started and I have no plans to be caught in the middle."