Chapter 3 - The Shark
I didn't just want criminal charges. I wanted to salt the earth so nothing they loved could ever grow again.
I hired Marcus Vance, a high-profile civil litigator known around Michigan for being utterly ruthless. When I walked into his glass-walled office in downtown Detroit, I handed him the police report, the hospital bills, and a thick file of financial documents.
"I want to sue them," I said simply. "For intentional infliction of emotional distress, medical expenses, and punitive damages."
Marcus flipped through the file, his eyebrows raising. "Your parents are wealthy. They'll hire a defense team to drag this out for years. They'll try to drain your alimony money in legal fees."
"They aren't as wealthy as they pretend to be," I said, sliding a specific folder across his desk. "My mother demanded half my divorce settlement 'for safekeeping.' I thought it was just her being controlling. But when I was packing to move, I found an old piece of mail addressed to my father. A foreclosure warning on their investment properties."
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Marcus looked at the document, a predatory smile slowly spreading across his face. "They're broke. They are living on credit and appearances."
"My mother left my daughter to freeze to death because I refused to bail her out of her own financial ruin," I said, my voice completely devoid of emotion. "Take everything they have left, Marcus. The house, the cars, the retirement accounts. Leave them with nothing but the clothes on their backs."
