Chapter 8 - The Legal Fallout
Two days later, the legal reality of Janet’s departure began to hit hard.
Luke received an email from Janet’s corporate attorney brother, Marcus, threatening immediate litigation for “unlawful abandonment of marital residency” and demanding a massive cash settlement of two hundred thousand dollars to avoid a messy public divorce trial.
Marcus clearly thought Luke was weak, easily intimidated, and desperate to avoid scandal at his corporate firm.
He didn't know about Mason’s digital evidence folder.
Luke forwarded the email, along with all of Mason’s high-resolution photographs of the forged refinancing application and the secret estate snooping, directly to his own legal counsel—a ruthless senior partner named Diana Vance (no relation to Marcus).
Within three hours, Diana replied with a single sentence: “Tell them to file whatever they want. We have them on wiretap-adjacent document tampering and conspiracy to commit financial fraud.”
When Marcus received Diana’s counter-notice—complete with timestamped photo evidence of Janet entering Luke’s private filing cabinet and the exact mortgage broker she had illegally contacted—the lawyer’s office phone calls stopped entirely.
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There would be no multi-million-dollar settlement. There wouldn't even be a contested alimony claim. Within a week, Janet’s lawyer quietly submitted an uncontested filing for separation, with Janet agreeing to walk away with her personal belongings and nothing else, terrified that Luke’s legal team would hand their evidence over to the state prosecutor for criminal fraud charges.
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