Chapter 5 - The Legal Counter-Punch
Two days after the article went viral, my university office received a formal letter from a regional law firm representing Ethan and Cassie Small.
I handed the envelope unopened to my university’s legal counsel, who handled all my high-level patent protections and institutional security matters.
An hour later, the university lawyer called me into his office, chuckling softly as he spun a legal document across his mahogany desk.
"Well, Dr. Small, it appears your biological donors are trying a new tactic," he smiled. "They aren't suing for money—they’re broke, and they know they have no legal leg to stand on. Instead, they’re demanding a formal public retraction and an apology from you, claiming that your public statements defamed their character and caused intentional infliction of emotional distress."
I picked up the paper, scanning the absurd legal jargon with a detached, clinical eye. "And what is our response?"
"My response," the lawyer grinned, tapping the corner of the document, "was a three-page counter-notice citing statutory harassment, extortion, public exposure of minor-era financial exploitation, and an immediate, ironclad cease-and-desist order. If Ethan or Cassie Small come within one thousand feet of you, your lab, or your residence, local law enforcement will arrest them on sight. Furthermore, we informed their counsel that any further legal posturing will result in a civil class-action inquiry into the illegal extraction of labor from a minor."
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He leaned back in his leather chair. "You will never hear from them again, Meadow. Trust me. They’re running for cover."
He was entirely right. Within forty-eight hours of receiving my lawyer's counter-notice, my parents' attorney dropped them as clients, realizing he was trying to defend a sinking ship made of lead.
