Chapter 6 - The Trap is Set
Two weeks after the night I fled, the legal hammer finally dropped.
David was arrested at a downtown bar, drunk and bragging to a waitress about how he was going to "destroy his crazy wife." Federal agents walked in, slapped cuffs on him, and charged him with six counts of wire fraud, embezzlement, and identity theft.
Because of his flight risk and the severity of the financial crimes, his bail was set at two million dollars. His parents, finally realizing the extent of their son's depravity, refused to mortgage their estate to bail him out.
He was stuck in county lockup.
Veronica arranged a mediation session at the courthouse, strictly separated by armed bailiffs, to finalize the financial untangling of our divorce. Dad drove me down from the mountain. I wore a sharp black suit. I wasn't the terrified woman crying on the floor anymore. I was a survivor, backed by a father who had taught me how to stand my ground.
When I walked into the mediation room, David looked like a ghost. He was wearing an oversized orange jumpsuit, his hair greasy, his arrogant swagger completely erased by two weeks in a concrete cell.
When he saw me, his eyes widened with a mix of hatred and desperate pleading. “Sarah… please. You have to tell them the loans were mutual. You have to drop the assault charges. If I get convicted on the domestic violence charge, they’ll add five years to the federal sentence.”
I sat down at the table across from him. I didn't look at my lawyer, and I didn't look at my dad standing quietly by the door. I looked directly into David’s eyes.
“You mocked my father for years,” I said, my voice eerily calm. “You thought he was a washed-up old man. You thought I was weak because I chose to be gentle.”
“I’m sorry!” David sobbed, burying his face in his shackled hands.
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“No, you’re not,” I replied coldly. “You’re just sorry you got caught. I am signing the divorce papers today. I am testifying against you in criminal court next month. I am taking the house, the car, and every dime you have left to pay off the fraudulent debt you put in my name. And if you ever try to contact me again, my father won’t call the police. He’ll handle it himself.”
David looked up, trembling, and glanced at Dad. Dad simply offered a slow, chilling nod.
