Because I needed to think about what I wanted to do with the information. Because once I deployed this, there was no going back. Because I stopped, tried to articulate something I've been feeling but hadn't named. Because this is the nuclear option, Sandra. This doesn't just end our marriage.
This destroys Rachel financially, legally, possibly criminally, and I needed to be absolutely certain I was willing to do that. And are you certain? I thought about the question about Rachel crying in our dining room, about her losing her job, about the consequences she was already facing. Thought about whether adding this to the pile was justice or just cruelty. Then I thought about the birth control deception about a year of my life spent trying to conceive a child she was actively preventing about her planning and exit strategy for four years while I was planning our future.
Yes, I said I'm certain. Sandra closed the folder. Then we file an emergency motion to freeze all her accounts pending investigation of asset concealment. We amend the divorce petition to include fraud allegations. And we prepare for this to get very, very ugly.
How ugly? Potential criminal charges. Ugly jail time. Ugly. This isn't just civil court anymore, James.
If the DA gets interested in financial fraud during divorce proceedings, Rachel could be facing felony charges. The weight of that settled over me. I'd known this was serious, but hearing it articulated in terms of criminal liability made it real in a new way. I don't want her to go to jail, I said slowly. I want her to face consequences, but not not that.
Then we offer her a deal. She returns all the hidden assets, accepts an amended divorce agreement heavily weighted in your favor, and we don't pursue criminal charges. She gets to walk away with something instead of nothing. That seems fair. Fair?
Sandra laughed without humor. James, none of this is fair. She stole over 100,000 from your marriage while planning to leave you. Fair would be her in handcuffs. What you're proposing is mercy.
Maybe. Or maybe it was just exhaustion. The knowledge that pursuing maximum punishment would require more energy, more time, more of my life spent locked in combat with someone I used to love. Set up the meeting with her lawyer, I said. Show them the evidence.
Give them 24 hours to respond with a settlement offer. If they don't, we file criminal complaints. You're sure about this? No, but I'm doing it anyway. Sandra left with a folder promising to have Rachel's lawyer served with notice by end of day.
I sat in my office and tried to process what I just said in motion. At 1:45, my doorbell rang. Rachel, 15 minutes early, looking nervous. "You said this was important," she said when I opened the door. "It is.