Chapter 4 - The Counter-Attack
Two days later, Ethan tried to strike back.
I was sitting in my living room, enjoying the peaceful quiet of my clean home, when my phone chimed with an email notification from Marcus. Attached was a legal notice from Ethan’s newly retained attorney, a high-priced, aggressive litigator named Richard Vance (no relation to Marcus, though ironically vicious).
Ethan wasn't just contesting the divorce; he was suing for fifty percent of the house, half of my military pension, spousal support, and claiming that my "public humiliation" of him had caused irreparable damage to his earning potential and mental health.
Attached was a personal letter from Ethan himself, sent through his attorney's portal.
Claire,
*You think you’re so high and mighty with your medals and your cold, robotic discipline. You ruined my career. You ruined my reputation. You humiliated me in front of everyone I work with.
I gave you fifteen years of my life while you were off playing soldier in dusty deserts. I sacrificed my youth waiting for a wife who was never truly present. Lila showed me warmth and affection that you were too cold to ever give me.
If you think you're walking away from this with everything while I am left with nothing, you're dead wrong. I will take half of your pension, half of this house, and I will make sure the Army knows what kind of vindictive monster they are promoting to Lieutenant Colonel.*
- Ethan
I read the letter twice. My pulse didn't even elevate.
I forwarded the message to Marcus with a simple caption: Is this considered spousal extortion?
Five minutes later, Marcus called me. "He’s desperate, Claire. His suspension at work was just turned into a formal termination this morning. The company didn't want the liability of Lila’s impending sexual harassment lawsuit. He has no income, no corporate leverage, and his legal fees are mounting."
"He wants my pension," I said smoothly.
"He can try," Marcus scoffed. "Under the Uniformed Services Former Spouses' Protection Act, he could technically qualify for a portion of your pension if you were married for ten years during active service. However, because he committed financial fraud and dissipation of marital assets, we can use that to offset any pension claim entirely. Furthermore, I just received intelligence from a corporate insider."
"What kind of intelligence?"
"Ethan didn't just misuse your joint bank account," Marcus said, his voice lowering with dramatic flair. "The internal audit at Lawson & Associates revealed he was padding his expense reports for the past eighteen months to cover his luxury dates with Lila. He embezzled over $120,000 from his own firm."
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I leaned back against my couch, letting out a breath. "So he's not just facing a divorce. He's facing criminal prosecution."
"Exactly," Marcus chuckled. "His lawyer doesn't know the audit results yet. I’m going to schedule a settlement conference for tomorrow afternoon. When we lay these federal fraud charges on the table, Ethan will sign whatever paper we put in front of him just to stay out of a orange jumpsuit."
