Chapter 4 - The Legal Strike
Three days later, I was discharged from the hospital and moved directly into my father’s heavily gated estate.
I sat in a velvet wheelchair by the massive bay windows, watching Emma play safely in the garden.
Behind me, the heavy oak doors of the study opened, and my father walked in with Veronica Chase.
Veronica was the most ruthless, feared, and expensive divorce attorney on the East Coast.
She wore a tailored red suit that matched the blood-red lipstick she favored, carrying a briefcase that looked heavier than she was.
"Good morning, Sarah," Veronica said, her voice sharp and efficient as she opened her laptop.
"I have spent the last forty-eight hours dissecting your husband’s entire financial and legal existence."
She slid a thick stack of printed documents across the polished wooden desk toward me.
"David bonded out of jail yesterday morning, courtesy of his mother mortgaging her house," Veronica stated bluntly.
"He immediately filed for emergency full custody of Emma, claiming you are mentally unstable and abusive."
A cold spike of pure terror drove itself directly into my heart.
"He can't take her," I gasped, trying to stand up before the pain in my shattered leg forced me back down.
"He won't," my father intervened, placing a comforting hand on my trembling shoulder.
"Look at the next page, Sarah," Veronica instructed, tapping a perfectly manicured nail on the paper.
I flipped the page and saw a massive spreadsheet filled with red highlighting and offshore bank logos.
"David is not just an abusive husband; he is a spectacular, wildly arrogant fraud," she smiled fiercely.
"He has been embezzling money from his own firm's clients for three years to fund Margaret's lavish lifestyle."
"When his partners started asking questions last week, he panicked."
"He needed a massive influx of cash immediately to replace the stolen funds before the quarterly audit."
"That is why he finally made the desperate move to steal your protected inheritance."
I stared at the numbers, realizing my marriage was never a romance; it was a long, calculated financial scheme.
"We are not just filing for divorce, Sarah," Veronica said, snapping her briefcase shut with a loud clack.
May you like
"We are filing a massive civil RICO lawsuit for fraud, and we are handing this entire dossier directly to the District Attorney."
"We are going to crush him."
