Chapter 11: Seeking Justice
The name Marcus Vance came recommended by Sarah Jenkins at the hospital. He was a veteran family law attorney known for taking on complex domestic abuse cases against high-net-worth individuals who thought their money placed them above the law. Their office was located in a converted brick warehouse on the edge of the city—a stark contrast to the sterile glass towers of downtown corporate law.
Marcus Vance was a man in his early sixties with silvering hair, rolled-up shirtsleeves, and an office lined with towering stacks of case files. He listened without interruption as Jacob and Megan detailed everything: Evelyn’s systematic abuse of Leo, the physical evidence of Megan’s injuries, the emergency hospital report, and the sudden, retaliatory freezing of their assets and Jacob's corporate suspension.
When they finished, Marcus leaned back in his leather swivel chair, steeple-fingered his hands, and let out a low whistle.
"Well," Marcus said, his gravelly voice carrying a note of grim amusement. "Your mother certainly checks every box in the textbook definition of narcissistic matriarchal control. Freezing joint accounts and leveraging a corporate lease to force a partner's suspension borders on extortion and corporate interference."
"Can we fight it?" Megan asked, leaning forward in her chair. "She has limitless resources through the family trust."
"Resources matter, Mrs. Sterling, but public interest and criminal evidence matter more," Marcus replied, pulling a legal pad toward him. "The moment she laid hands on a minor and physically assaulted you, this stopped being a civil family dispute and became a criminal matter. The emergency protective order we filed yesterday is already in effect. If she comes within five hundred feet of either of you, or of Leo, she goes straight to jail—no bail, no exceptions."
Jacob felt a knot in his stomach loosen slightly. "What about the assets? We're currently living out of a hotel, and our accounts are locked."
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"We file an emergency injunction to unfreeze personal and marital assets, citing financial abuse and domestic coercion," Marcus said briskly, his pen moving across the pad in swift, confident strokes. "And as for the firm—Arthur Harris and his board are going to regret siding with a liability like your mother once we file a counter-suit for wrongful suspension under duress."
For the first time in days, Jacob felt the suffocating weight in his chest begin to lift. He looked at Megan, seeing a matching spark of hope in her eyes. They weren't helpless anymore. They had a strategy, and more importantly, they had the truth on their side.
