Chapter 2 - The Legal War Begins
By four o'clock that afternoon, we were sitting in a high-floor conference room in downtown Richmond, surrounded by four senior litigators from Vance & Sterling LLP—my father's legal firm—and Special Assistant Attorney General Marcus Vance (no relation to Ethan, though the irony was not lost on us).
The large monitor at the end of the conference table displayed the archived footage and the digital forensics report that my father's IT team had assembled in under three hours.
"The video was uploaded from an IP address registered to a luxury penthouse on East Cary Street," Marcus Vance explained, tapping his pen against his pad. "The primary account holder is Tyler Montgomery."
"Ethan’s best friend," I said, leaning over the table. "The one who laughed when I left."
"Precisely," Marcus replied. "And the cloud drive holding the non-consensual images was created forty-eight hours ago under an anonymous burner account—but the metadata shows the file transfers originated from a mobile device linked to Chloe Bennett's personal cellular network."
A heavy silence settled over the room.
"So it wasn't just Ethan," Liam spat out, leaning back in his leather chair with his arms crossed. "It was a coordinated hit. They knew she was leaving, so they decided to execute a scorched-earth campaign to ruin her credibility before she could speak out."
"It’s classic defamation and blackmail behavior," Sarah Jenkins, our lead civil attorney, chimed in. "They knew Hazel could ruin Ethan’s standing in Richmond society and damage his father’s corporate holdings. By framing her as a hysterical, unstable ex-girlfriend who was 'in on the joke until she got bitter,' they attempted to pre-emptively neutralize her narrative."
Sarah pulled out a stack of documents and slid them across the table to me.
"We have two paths here, Hazel," Sarah said. "Path A is a quiet settlement. We issue takedown notices under DMCA, file an injunction, force them to delete everything, and extract a quiet multi-million dollar payout out of court. Ethan’s family will pay almost anything to keep this out of the national press."
I looked at the documents, then at my father, who was watching me quietly.
"And what is Path B?" I asked.
Sarah smiled faintly, a sharp, predatory gleam in her eyes. "Path B is scorched earth. We file criminal charges under Virginia’s strict computer fraud and unlawful dissemination of intimate imagery statutes—both of which carry mandatory prison time. Simultaneously, we file a civil suit for intentional infliction of emotional distress, wiretapping, and fraud, seeking seventy-five million dollars in punitive damages. We make every single person in that video—Ethan, Chloe, Tyler, Mason—co-defendants."
"If we take Path B," my father added quietly, "your life will be under a microscope, Hazel. Ethan’s family will throw tens of millions of dollars at defense attorneys. They will try to drag your name through the mud."
I looked down at my hands. For three years, I had shrunk myself to fit into Ethan's world. I had swallowed my pride, apologized for things I didn't do, and let them laugh at my expense just to keep the peace.
I looked up at Sarah.
"File Path B," I said without a second of hesitation. "And make sure the press gets a copy of the indictment before Ethan’s father can buy his way out of the evening news."
An hour later, as we were leaving the legal building, my phone rang.
It was Ethan.
I looked at the screen, my heart beating in a steady, deliberate rhythm. I swiped the screen and put it on speaker, holding it out so my father and Liam could hear.
"Hazel?" Ethan’s voice came through the speaker. He sounded breathless, frantic, and unnervingly close to angry. "Where the hell are you? My father just got a call from a prosecutor’s office! Have you completely lost your mind?"
"Hello, Ethan," I said smoothly, stepping into the back of my father's waiting sedan.
"What is this nonsense about an injunction and criminal charges?!" Ethan snapped, his voice rising in volume. "You're taking a stupid internet video and trying to turn it into a federal case! Do you have any idea what this is doing to my family's stock value today?"
"I don't care about your stock value, Ethan," I replied softly.
"It was a JOKE, Hazel!" Ethan yelled through the phone. "The channel was a joke! The group chat was a joke! Everyone knew about it except you because you have no sense of humor! You're ruining three years of my life over a prank!"
"You didn't just prank me, Ethan," I said, keeping my tone perfectly cool, cutting through his hysterical yelling like a surgical scalpel. "You recorded me without my consent. You leaked private photographs. You conspired with Chloe and Tyler to humiliate me publicly for financial gain through your betting pool."
Ethan went dead silent on the line. The panic was palpable through the speaker.
"You... you don't know what you're talking about," Ethan stuttered, his bravado instantly evaporating.
"We have the IP addresses, Ethan," I continued coldly. "We have the metadata from Chloe’s phone. We have the transcript of every single bet you placed on my tears over the last thirty-six months. And as of twenty minutes ago, the Commonwealth of Virginia has issued formal arrest warrants for you, Chloe Bennett, and Tyler Montgomery."
"Hazel, wait—!"
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"Don't call this number again, Ethan," I said. "The next time you want to speak to me, you can do it through my attorneys while standing in front of a judge."
I ended the call and blocked his number forever.
