Chapter 5
On Monday afternoon, I went to David's law firm.
His assistant led me into the conference room. David was already there, a cup of black coffee in front of him, his notebook open, and his pen uncapped.
I placed the file bag on the table, unzipped it, and took out the contents one by one.
Photos.
Bills.
GPS records.
Chat logs.
He looked through them one by one, his expression gradually turning from calm to grave.
After he finished, he leaned back in his chair.
"The chain of evidence is complete," David said. "This is enough to prove marital misconduct."
"But?" I asked.
"But, you know how it is. Under the current legal system, the cheating spouse barely faces any real consequences in a divorce. The court might lean a bit in your favor when splitting assets, but it's not like he'll walk away with nothing.
"And compensation for emotional distress—honestly, what's the biggest amount you've ever seen awarded?"
"27,000."
"Exactly. 27000. But Michael's assets: your house, your car, his company shares, investment returns, add up to at least 10 million. 27000 is pocket change to him."
I didn't say anything.
David looked at me. "So, what exactly do you want to do?"
"First, tell me how the shares in his company are divided."
"Any increase in value after marriage counts as marital property, that's pretty clear. But since he started the company before you got married, the main shares are considered his own pre-marital assets.
"If you want the biggest cut, you'll have to show you made a real impact on the company's growth after marriage; like investing money, bringing in resources, or being actively involved in running the business."
"In our second year of marriage, I lent him 270,000 dollars for his company's angel investment round. I even have an IOU, but he never paid me back.
"Then, in the third year, I used my connections to introduce him to his biggest client—Urban Construction Group."
"Got proof?"
"Absolutely. I've got emails, bank transfer records, and WeChat chat logs to back it all up."
David looked up at me.
I went on, "And there was another thing. While we were married, he sold five percent of his shares to a college friend for next to nothing, and he did it without my consent. If the court sees this as him moving marital assets—"
"You can claim compensation for that part," David cut in. "You've really done your homework."
"I'm a criminal lawyer, but that doesn't mean I don't know my way around civil law," I replied.
He gave a small smile, but it quickly faded.
He said, "Emily, let me be real with you. You're almost too calm right now. Being calm is good, but if you're bottling up something bigger, sooner or later it's gonna blow up and probably when you least expect it."
"No," I replied. "I'm not holding anything back."
"You don't hate him?" he asked.
I thought for a moment. "Hate takes a lot of energy. I'd rather put my energy into things that actually pay off."
David didn't say anything else. He picked up his pen and jotted down a few lines in his notebook.
"First step, keep gathering evidence. The more, the better. Especially any proof that he's been spending your shared money on that woman. Legally, that's him using your assets without your say-so, and you have every right to demand it back."
"What's the second step?" I asked.
"Second step, let me draft a full game plan for the lawsuit. I'll spell out the timeline, our strategy, what you can expect when it comes to splitting up the assets, and all the ways he might try to fight back. It need a week."
"Okay."
"And there's a third step," David paused. "You need to think about whether you want to lay all your cards on the table with him before you file.
"Some people go straight to court, without giving the other side any time to prepare. Others try to negotiate first, seeing if they can settle for better terms out of court."
"I'm not negotiating with him."
"Why not?"
"Because he'll cry. He'll say he messed up. He'll literally beg me to forgive him. He'll claim that girl means nothing, that it was a stupid mistake. He'll promise it'll never happen again. He might even convince himself he means it."
David looked at me.
I continued, "And then? He'll say sorry while quietly hiding assets. He'll cry his eyes out while wiping all the evidence. He'll plead for my forgiveness while giving that girl a heads-up to brace herself."
"Is he really that kind of guy?" David asked.
"I can't say for sure if he is or not. But I've seen too many cases like this. Trust me, when divorce is on the table, people will do things you wouldn't believe."
David closed his notebook.
"Alright. No negotiations. We'll go straight to court," he said.
"Let's wait until we have all the evidence," I said, standing up. "There's one thing I want to handle on my own."
"What is it?"
"Sophie."
He raised an eyebrow. "What are you planning to do?"
"I'm going to meet her," I said.