Chapter 6 - The Financial Ambush
Two weeks passed.
I moved Rachel and Fiona back into the house. The locks had been changed, a high-tech security system with four exterior cameras was installed, and Fiona was back in her normal daycare routine, blooming under the quiet, peaceful atmosphere of a home without tension.
Then the financial letters started arriving.
It began on a Tuesday morning. I opened the mailbox to find a heavy manila envelope from a high-end forensic accounting firm hired by Richard Vance.
Inside was a legal notice demanding full financial disclosure of my mother’s estate trust, along with a motion claiming that Luca was entitled to fifty percent of the Evanston property—the house my mother had left me—claiming he had performed "substantial sweat equity and financial management" that increased its market value over our six-year marriage.
An hour later, my bank called.
Wendy Vance had filed a civil lawsuit against me in county court, suing me for two hundred thousand dollars in damages for "severe physical assault, emotional distress, defamation, and destruction of personal property" stemming from the birthday banquet incident.
I sat at my kitchen table, staring at the stack of legal threats.
My phone rang. It was Evelyn.
"I take it you received Richard’s little care package?" Evelyn asked, sounding amused rather than concerned.
"They're suing me for her birthday cake, Evelyn," I said, rubbing my temples. "And Luca is claiming he renovated my mother's house in Evanston. He couldn't even change a lightbulb without calling a handyman!"
"It's a classic intimidation tactic," Evelyn explained smoothly. "Richard knows they lost the custody battle on day one because of the video. So now they are trying to paper you to death. They want to drain your financial resources with legal fees until you panic and offer them a settlement that gives them visitation rights with Fiona."
"What do we do?"
"We don't defend, Jessi," Evelyn said, her tone dropping into that deadly, confident register I had grown to love. "We counter-attack. Bring me every financial record you have on Luca’s small business."
Luca owned a boutique logistics consultancy firm that his mother had helped him start four years ago. I had always stayed out of his business finances, trusting him when he said the company was breaking even.
"Why his business?" I asked.
"Because men like Luca, raised by women like Wendy, always cheat on their taxes," Evelyn said matter-of-factly. "And because I ran a background check on his business partners yesterday. Do you know who his primary client has been for the past three years?"
"Who?"
"Vance Holding Group," Evelyn revealed. "His uncle Richard’s firm. They’ve been funneling 'consulting fees' into Luca’s company to the tune of forty thousand dollars a month. Money that Luca never reported on your joint tax returns."
I sat up straight in my chair. "Wait... he was hiding income from me?"
"He wasn't just hiding income from you, Jessi," Evelyn chuckled darkly. "He was committing tax fraud. He kept a separate corporate account in Delaware. When he claimed to you that his business was barely making ends meet so you would pay for eighty percent of the household expenses out of your mother's trust... he was actually piling up hundreds of thousands of dollars in off-books cash."
A cold, fiery rage bloomed in my stomach.
For six years, I had cut back on my own career, stretched my mother’s inheritance to cover our mortgage, our groceries, and Fiona's medical bills, believing Luca when he cried about how hard he was working to build a future for us.
He wasn't struggling. He was leeching off me while hoarding a secret fortune provided by his wealthy family.
"Evelyn," I said, my hand gripping the edge of the table. "Can we subpoena those Delaware bank records?"
"Already done," Evelyn replied softly. "I filed the motion two hours ago. And I attached a formal notice to the IRS Whistleblower Office."
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I let out a long, slow breath. "How long until Richard Vance finds out?"
"I give it twenty minutes," Evelyn said. "Expect a very different phone call from his lawyer shortly."
