Chapter 8 - The Retainer: Hiring Baltimore’s Most Ruthless Litigator
Standing in the quiet corridor under the humming fluorescent lights,
Arthur Vance flipped open his leather briefcase and pulled out a set of crisp,
printed documents,
“The judge signed the temporary restraining order and asset freeze at noon,
Mara,” Arthur said,
his voice low and professional,
“Grant’s personal accounts,
his discretionary investment portfolios,
and his primary stock holdings in Whitmore Health are entirely locked down.”
“What about the hospital board’s reaction?” I asked,
crossing my arms over my chest,
“Alistair Vance and the other senior partners are furious,” Arthur replied with a faint smirk,
“they’re already holding an emergency executive session to discuss stripping Grant of his medical directorship to protect the institution’s accreditation.”
“Good,” I said coldly,
“he deserves to lose every title he prioritized over his own flesh and blood.”
“There’s more,” Arthur added,
sliding a secondary document from the folder,
“Rachel Palmer is not listed on any legal asset titles,
meaning anything Grant gifted her or purchased for her over the past four years can be retroactively targeted as fraudulent conveyance of marital property.”
“Can we claw back the funding for her private clinic?” I asked,
“Every single cent,” Arthur confirmed,
“our forensic accountants are already tracing the wire transfers from the joint account to her boutique pediatric cardiology practice,
she thought she was building an empire on Grant’s generosity,
but it was built on quicksand.”
“She laughed while my son was bleeding,” I whispered,
the memory of that childish giggle over the phone burning fresh in my mind,
“I want her financial life dismantled just as thoroughly as our marriage.”
“Consider it a specialty of mine,
Mara,” Arthur said,
adjusting his tie,
“Grant is currently attempting to reach out to every judge and prominent figure he knows in Baltimore,
but thanks to the public health inquiry regarding the blood diversion,
nobody wants to touch him with a ten-foot pole,
he has become radioactive.”
“Let him burn in the radiation he created,” I said,
turning back toward the glass window to watch Eli peacefully eating his ice cream,
“File for full custody and the immediate dissolution of marriage on grounds of severe emotional abandonment and gross financial misconduct.”
“It will be on his desk before dinner,” Arthur promised,
May you like
closing his briefcase with a sharp,
satisfying snap.
