Chapter 32 - The Final Subpoena
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The heavily embossed legal envelope arrived via a highly flustered private courier just as we were locking up the office for the long weekend. Unlike the pathetic cease-and-desist letter from Adrian’s past lawyers, this document bore the intimidating seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Dorian eagerly snatched it from my hands before I could even find my silver letter opener.
"This is it," Dorian said, his eyes scanning the dense legal text with terrifying speed. "This is the final, official subpoena for the Beatrice case. The federal prosecutor is aggressively moving forward with criminal indictments against the state senator."
"They actually want you to testify as the primary expert forensic witness," I noted, pointing to the second page of the heavy document.
"Of course they do," Dorian smirked, pushing his glasses up his nose. "I meticulously gift-wrapped a massive federal money-laundering conviction for them. They just need me to stand on the stand and explain the offshore routing numbers to the jury like they are five years old."
"This is going to be a massive, highly publicized circus," Elodie worried softly, adjusting her scarf. "The political fallout alone will completely dominate the national news cycle for months. Are we fully prepared for that level of intense scrutiny?"
"We were born for this exact level of scrutiny," Marisol declared fiercely, slapping the wooden table. "This is exactly what we boldly promised to do. We promised to loudly drag these abusive men out of their protected shadows. Let the press come. Let them see exactly what happens when you try to financially starve a woman."
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I looked at the three of them—the brilliant accountant, the fierce advocate, the meticulous researcher. We had started as a tiny, fractured group of people trying to heal a single wound, and we had aggressively forged ourselves into an entirely unstoppable legal machine.
"Dorian, you will testify with absolute transparency," I ordered, my voice filled with immense pride. "Elodie, completely lock down our data servers, I want impenetrable digital security. And Marisol, draft a very brief, highly professional press release. We are not just participating in this federal trial; we are actively setting the new national precedent."
