Chapter 4 - The Legal Strike
Moving into Sarah’s spare bedroom was humbling, but it was the safest place I could be.
The next morning, I hired the most ruthless divorce attorney in the city, a woman named Victoria Vance.
Victoria listened to my story with clinical detachment, her eyes narrowing as she reviewed the police reports.
"He threw you out into a blizzard, resulting in severe physical injury," she summarized, tapping her expensive pen on the desk.
"That's not just grounds for divorce, Elena; that's grounds for a civil lawsuit."
I nodded slowly, the anger burning hot in my chest.
"I want half of whatever is left, and I want him to pay for my medical bills," I demanded.
"Oh, we will get much more than that," Victoria promised with a predatory smile.
"Robert's negligence caused you grievous bodily harm."
Meanwhile, the manhunt for Julian was escalating rapidly across state lines.
He had abandoned Robert's Mercedes at a truck stop in Iowa, disappearing into the vast American Midwest.
The FBI had joined the search, tracing the fraudulent wire transfers to offshore accounts.
Julian was no longer just a manipulative son; he was a federal fugitive.
Robert tried to call me a dozen times a day, leaving desperate, weeping voicemails that I immediately deleted.
He was drowning in debt, facing foreclosure on the house because Julian had stolen the mortgage payments.
The irony was almost too perfect to believe.
The man who had cast me out into the cold was about to lose his own home.
I focused all my energy on my physical therapy, fighting through the agonizing pain in my fingers.
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The doctors said I would likely have permanent nerve damage, a daily reminder of the night my life ended and began again.
But every flare of pain only fueled my determination to see Julian in handcuffs.
