Chapter 8 - The Legal Battle
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The line went dead. Julian hung up the second I mentioned the project name. He knew he was exposed.
Two hours later, Marcus Thorne, the family law attorney my father had hired, arrived at the safehouse. He was wearing a sharp, expensive suit that looked entirely out of place amidst the rusted shipping containers outside.
"Julian’s ex parte emergency custody order was denied by the judge this morning," Marcus announced, setting a thick stack of manila folders onto the metal table. "The medical records from your ER visit, combined with your detailed police statement, were enough to block his claim of being the victim. The judge granted you a temporary restraining order and full physical custody pending a formal hearing."
I let out a shuddering breath, burying my face in my hands. The immediate threat was neutralized. My son was safe.
"However," Marcus cautioned, sitting across from me, "Julian is not retreating. His legal team just filed a massive discovery request. They are freezing every marital asset, demanding psychiatric evaluations for you, and accusing you of alienating the child. He is preparing for a scorched-earth trial."
"Let him," my father grunted, pouring the lawyer a cup of coffee. "We have his embezzlement files. We can end this today."
Marcus shook his head. "We cannot use the Project Atlas files in family court, Arthur. They were obtained via unauthorized remote access to a private cloud server. It’s inadmissible fruit of the poisonous tree. If we introduce them, Julian’s lawyers will claim Evelyn hacked him to fabricate evidence. It will destroy her credibility with the judge."
"So we have evidence that he's a massive criminal, and we can't use it?" I asked, frustration boiling in my chest.
"Not in family court," Marcus agreed. "But Julian doesn't know that. He only knows you have the files. He is going to be incredibly desperate to get them back before you realize you can't use them legally. Desperate men make mistakes. We just have to survive until he makes one."
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"He won't make a legal mistake," I warned them, remembering the cold sound of Julian’s voice on the burner phone. "He'll make a violent one. He’s going to send people after us."
My father stood up, crossing his massive arms. "I welcome it. Let him try to breach my docks."
