Chapter 5 - THE CONFRONTATION
The following afternoon, I returned to the marital home with a court-approved property access order to retrieve my personal belongings, clothing, and legal documents from the study.
As I was loading a box of books into the back of my SUV, a dark luxury sedan pulled into the driveway.
Elliot Vance stepped out.
He was dressed in a tailored charcoal suit, his hair neatly slicked back, carrying himself with the easy, arrogant posture of a man who believed he was always the smartest person in the room.
"Darren," he said, stepping onto the walkway, hands buried in his coat pockets. "I thought I might catch you here."
I set the box down in the trunk and turned to face him, keeping my expression entirely neutral. "Elliot. You're far from your office."
"Lena called me," he said, stopping a few feet away. "She's pretty shaken up, Darren. You're dragging this thing out, making unreasonable demands through your lawyer, and making life miserable for her and the kids."
I couldn't help a slight, cold smile from touching my lips. "Is that what she told you?"
"Look," Elliot said, taking a step closer, lowering his voice to a condescending murmur. "I know things have been tense. But let's be adults here. You two grew apart. It happens. There’s no need to ruin her financially or drag her name through the mud with these ridiculous audit subpoenas."
"Ah," I said, the picture instantly becoming clear. "The audit subpoena hit your LLC's legal counsel today, didn't it?"
Elliot’s smug demeanor flickered for a brief second, his jaw tightening. "That property investment was a legitimate business venture, Darren. Lena wanted to diversify her personal portfolio."
"With forty-two thousand dollars stolen from my joint family account," I corrected smoothly. "Which makes your little LLC an accomplice to financial conversion of marital assets. My lawyer filed a joinder motion this morning to add your company as a third-party respondent to the divorce proceedings."
Elliot’s eyes widened slightly, his calm facade cracking. "Are you out of your mind? You're trying to drag my company into your messy divorce?"
"You dragged yourself into my marriage the moment you put your hand on my wife's knee in your glass conference room," I said, stepping closer until I was looking down at him. "And the moment you accepted stolen family funds into your personal bank accounts. You wanted a piece of my life, Elliot? Now you get to explain it to a judge under oath."
Before Elliot could reply, the front door of the house flew open. Lena ran down the steps, looking wild-eyed between the two of us.
"Elliot! What are you doing here?!" she gasped, grabbing his arm. Then she glared at me. "Darren, what are you doing to him?"
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"Just wrapping up my business, Lena," I said calmly, closing the trunk of my SUV. "Your legal team will receive the updated financial claim by five o'clock today. I suggest you both get very good attorneys."
I got into the driver's seat, started the engine, and backed out of the driveway, leaving the two of them standing side-by-side on the lawn, arguing frantically as I drove away.
