Chapter 4 - The Attorney’s Gambit
Mr. Levin’s office smelled of old parchment, leather bindings, and peppermint tea.
The elderly attorney sat behind his mahogany desk, stroking his white chin whiskers as he reviewed the new stack of digital photographs and bank printouts I had dropped on his blotter.
“Well, Claire,” Levin murmured, looking up over his spectacles. “Your husband has remarkably managed to commit every single financial misdemeanor short of grand larceny on the federal register. And given the wire transfers involving interstate commercial lenders, we might even cross that threshold.”
“I don’t want him in prison, Mr. Levin,” I said calmly, sitting across from him with my hands folded in my lap. “Prison takes time, taxpayer money, and public sympathy. What I want is a clean, total, and absolute legal severance.”
“You want a divorce.”
“I want a dissolution of marriage with an emergency asset freeze, a full indemnification waiver releasing me from all past, present, and future commercial liabilities tied to his business, and complete title ownership of this house transferred to my name as sole compensation for the fraudulent encumbrances he placed on my personal credit.”
Levin let out a low whistle of appreciation. “And the inheritance?”
“The $118,000 from my grandfather’s estate was deposited into a segregated trust account under my sole name this morning at 8:01 a.m.,” I said. “It is legally protected under state inheritance exemption statutes as non-marital, separate property. Neither Daniel nor his mother can touch a single cent of it.”
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Levin smiled, leaning back in his creaking leather chair. “My dear, your grandfather would have been profoundly proud of you. He always said you had the mind of a Supreme Court justice trapped in the body of a corporate accountant.”
“Let’s make sure the court agrees with him tomorrow morning,” I replied, sliding a formal petition across the desk. “I want the papers served while he’s at his morning progress meeting with his commercial lenders. Let’s see how charming he is when Sterling’s bailiffs walk into the conference room.”
