Chapter 7 - The Settlement Offer
Two weeks later, Daniel sent his divorce attorney, a man named Michael Ross, to Sarah Lin’s office to request an emergency settlement conference.
I sat at the long mahogany conference table on the twelfth floor of the law firm, sipping hot tea. Beside me sat Sarah, with three thick black binders lined up in front of her.
The door opened, and Daniel walked in accompanied by Ross.
He looked terrible. He had lost at least fifteen pounds; his suit hung loosely over his shoulders, his skin was sallow, and dark blue circles ringed his eyes. He looked ten years older than the man I had married five years ago.
He tried to look me in the eye as he sat down across the table, but I stared straight through him as if he were made of clear glass.
"Emily," Daniel murmured, his voice cracking. "Thank you for meeting with us."
I didn't answer. I let Sarah speak.
"Mr. Ross," Sarah said, tapping her pen against her notepad. "You requested this meeting. What is your client's proposal?"
Michael Ross opened a thin folder. "My client is prepared to sign an uncontested divorce agreement immediately, relinquishing all claims to the marital residence, the family vehicles, and Mrs. Vance's personal accounts. In exchange, Mrs. Vance will agree to drop her civil lawsuit against Daniel for emotional distress and withdraw her financial fraud complaints submitted to the District Attorney."
I let out a single, quiet laugh that made both attorneys look up.
"Is that a joke, Mr. Ross?" Sarah asked, her eyebrows rising. "Your client is facing imminent criminal indictment for federal wire fraud, mortgage forgery, and accessory to felony assault. You're asking my client to give up her right to restitution in exchange for assets she already legally controls through our court injunctions?"
Daniel leaned across the table, his hands trembling violently.
"Emily, please!" he begged, tears welling in his red-rimmed eyes. "I didn't push you! You know I wasn't even in the house when it happened! I was at work! I was just trying to protect my mother from dying in prison! Is that such a crime?!"
I leaned forward, resting my forearms on the polished mahogany table, looking directly into his desperate, weeping face.
"Yes, Daniel," I said, my voice dropping into a razor-sharp whisper. "It is a crime. When your mother pushed me, you saw my blood on the stairs. You saw the broken bodies of your own children on that hospital ultrasound. And your first thought—your very first instinct—was to tell me to shut up so she wouldn't get caught."
"I was in shock!" he cried out.
"No, you weren't," I said coldly. "You were calculating. You thought I was weak. You thought because I was grieving and bleeding in a hospital bed, I would bow my head and swallow your family's cruelty like I had swallowed your mother's insults for five years."
I opened the top binder in front of Sarah.
"This is the supplemental evidence report I submitted to the District Attorney this morning," I continued, sliding a single page across the table to his lawyer. "It contains bank transfer logs showing that four hours after I fell, while I was still in surgery having our deceased babies removed, you transferred forty thousand dollars from our emergency savings into your mother's private defense retainer account."
Daniel’s lawyer stared at the paper, then slowly turned his head to look at Daniel with a look of utter, professional horror.
"You... you did what, Daniel?" Ross asked quietly.
Daniel couldn't answer. He slumped back in his chair, staring at the table as if his soul had been sucked out of his body.
"There will be no settlement, Mr. Ross," Sarah Lin declared, closing her binders with a loud, final thud. "Your client has twenty-four hours to accept our full, unconditional surrender terms: total forfeiture of all marital property, full financial restitution to Clara's trust fund, and a complete, sworn confession regarding his mother's fraud."
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"And if I don't?" Daniel whispered, looking up at me with hollow, dead eyes.
"Then the District Attorney will arrest you on the courthouse steps tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM," I said, standing up from my chair. "Have a nice day, Daniel."
