Chapter 4 - The Legal Weapon
By noon the next day, Lauren returned to the suburban house on Lincoln Street, fully expecting to see a broken, submissive husband ready to beg for her forgiveness. She unlocked the front door, her heels clicking loudly on the hardwood floor.
"David?" she called out arrogantly. "I hope you've thought about what I said."
She walked into the living room, but instead of a lonely David, she found three people waiting for her. David was sitting on the sofa, holding Emily tightly in his lap. Standing near the window was an elderly man in a perfectly tailored charcoal suit, looking at her with eyes like flint. Next to him was a younger woman holding a professional video camera.
Lauren’s steps faltered. "Who... who are you? David, what is this?"
Arthur Vance stepped forward, pulling a thick legal document from his briefcase. "My name is Arthur Vance, Lauren. I am Emily’s grandfather, and I happen to be the senior partner of one of the largest litigation firms on the continent."
Lauren tried to recover her composure, her face hardening. "I don't care who you are. This is my house. Get out or I will call the police!"
"Please, call them," Arthur said calmly, gesturing to the woman with the camera. "In fact, we’ve already called the District Attorney's office. You see, Lauren, when you drove away yesterday, you forgot that David installs the security and smart-home systems at his warehouse. He recently updated the garage system. We have a full, high-definition audio and video recording of your entire confession yesterday afternoon."
Lauren's face drained of all color. She looked at David, her lips trembling. "David... you... you recorded me?"
"Every single word," David said, his voice completely devoid of emotion. "Your threats, your admission of hiding the letters, and your confession to drugging my daughter."
Arthur stepped closer, handing her the papers. "This is an emergency ex-parte restraining order. You are legally barred from coming within 500 feet of David or Emily. Furthermore, we have already frozen the joint savings account under a fraud investigation, as the funds inside include checks sent by me to my granddaughter, which you illegally forged and deposited."
Lauren looked down at the papers, her hands shaking. The perfect trap she had built for David had completely turned around and snapped shut on her own neck.
"You can't do this!" Lauren screamed, her voice turning shrill and hysterical. "I have rights! I am his wife!"
"Not for long," Arthur replied coldly. "The divorce paperwork is attached. If you contest it, we go to criminal trial, and I promise you, with the evidence we have, you will spend the next five to seven years in a state penitentiary. You have exactly ten minutes to pack one suitcase and leave this property. If you are still here in eleven minutes, the officers waiting around the corner will arrest you for child endangerment and felony forgery."
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Lauren looked at David, hoping to find a shred of the gentle, forgiving man she had married. But David turned his back to her, shielding Emily's face against his chest.
Realizing she had lost everything, Lauren let out a loud, frustrated shriek, threw the papers onto the floor, and ran up the stairs to grab her things. Ten minutes later, she slammed the front door behind her, leaving Lincoln Street forever.
