Chapter 6 - The Freezing of Assets
By 2:00 PM that afternoon, the legal machinery of the Pendelton family was moving with terrifying speed. I sat in the executive offices of Vance & Partners, the premier family-law firm downtown, watching my primary attorney, Clara Vance—my mother’s sister—file the initial emergency petition for divorce.
"We have filed under the fault grounds of extreme cruelty and physical battery, Selena," Clara said, her fingers flying across her tablet as she uploaded the digital photographs of my hair and the hotel room incident report. "Because the apartment lease was held by your father’s holding company, Hunter has already been served with an immediate exclusion order. He is barred from entering the premises without a court-appointed marshal to collect his clothing."
"What about his personal accounts?" I asked, sitting with a cup of hot tea, my new haircut feeling strangely light and liberating.
"That's the best part," Clara smiled, a sharp, predatory expression that ran in our family blood. "Hunter assumed the joint savings account you used for household expenses was safe because his name was listed first. He doesn't realize that eighty percent of the capital in that account came from your monthly university research fellowship grants, which are legally classified as non-marital educational stipends. We’ve frozen the entire account pending a forensic accounting audit."
Just then, my personal phone rang. I had turned it back on once the police report was signed. The caller ID showed Hunter’s number.
I pressed the speaker button.
"Selena!" Hunter’s voice was hysterical, loud noises of traffic and wind audible in the background. "Where are you? I went to the bank to get money for a hotel for my mother, and my debit card was declined! The branch manager told me the account is flagged for legal freeze! You can't do this! I have to pay the car insurance tomorrow!"
"Hunter," I said, my voice smooth, calm, and utterly detached. "The car insurance is the least of your concerns. Have you checked your corporate email yet?"
A long, suffocating silence followed over the line.
"What did you do?" he whispered, his voice suddenly sounding tiny, like a child lost in the dark.
"I didn't do anything," I replied. "But my father’s development company recently informed your regional director that their commercial lease extension at the Pendelton Plaza is contingent on the firm maintaining strict corporate governance standards. A senior associate facing criminal charges for domestic battery doesn't exactly fit their corporate aesthetic. I believe HR is waiting for you with a termination package."
"Selena, please!" Hunter cried out, the sound of his mother’s frantic, angry voice audible behind him, yelling about "rich snobs" and "illegal tricks." "We can talk about this! My mother... she’s leaving! I’m putting her on a bus back to Ohio right now! Just call off your dad's lawyers!"
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"Your mother isn't the problem, Hunter," I said softly, looking out the high window at the city skyline. "You are. You stood by and laughed while she took a pair of scissors to my dignity. You thought you could cut away my future. Now, you’re going to find out what it looks like when I cut you out of mine completely."
I hung up before he could respond, turning to Clara. "Let's proceed with the full asset division. I don't want a single penny of his money—I just want him to feel the exact weight of the isolation he tried to impose on me."
