Chapter 3 - THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
By 10:00 AM the following morning, I was sitting in the executive office of my legal counsel, Clara Harrison—one of the top forensic divorce attorneys in Minnesota.
My head was bandaged, and six tiny stitches held the skin near my hairline together. But my mind was crystal clear.
Clara spread the contents of my manila folder across her mahogany desk, her eyes scanning the bank statements, corporate registries, and forged loan documents with practiced intensity.
“This is extraordinary work, Maya,” Clara said, shaking her head in amazement. “You’ve essentially uncovered a multi-million-dollar loan fraud ring operated by Ethan and Lorraine Vance. They’ve been using forged signatures from you and two other investors to float bad real estate deals for nearly four years.”
“Can they touch my apartment?” I asked directly.
“Not a chance,” Clara replied firmly. “The condo was purchased three years prior to your marriage using your sole pre-marital funds. It is entirely non-marital property. Furthermore, with the criminal domestic assault charges pending against Ethan, we are filing an emergency order of protection today. He will be legally barred from coming within five hundred feet of you, your home, or your architectural office.”
“What about Lorraine?”
“Lorraine is going to try to ruin you socially and professionally before the criminal trial starts,” Clara warned. “She has deep connections in local society and media. People like her don't surrender when they’re caught; they fight dirty.”
Clara was right.
Within forty-eight hours of Ethan’s release on a $50,000 cash bail posted by his mother, the retaliation campaign began.
It started at my workplace.
I walked into Lin & Mercer Architectural Group on Monday morning to find two police cars parked outside the glass lobby. Inside, Lorraine Vance was standing near the reception desk, flanked by a local news camera crew and a high-priced civil attorney named Richard Sterling.
“There she is!” Lorraine shrieked, pointing her finger at me as the news camera turned its lens toward my face. “There’s the woman who stole from my family trust and framed my son for domestic abuse!”
My managing partner, David Mercer, stepped between Lorraine and me, his face red with frustration. “Mrs. Vance, I’ve already told you to leave our premises! This is a private commercial office!”
“I won't leave until the public knows the truth!” Lorraine yelled for the camera. “Maya Lin used her position as an architect to forge documents, steal funds from Vance Enterprises, and when my son confronted her, she staged an injury to have him arrested!”
The reporters shoved a microphone toward my face. “Ms. Lin, is it true you embezzled funds from your husband’s family? Is the domestic abuse claim a cover-up?”
I stopped walking. I didn't hide my face. I didn't lower my head.
I turned directly toward the camera lens, looking calm, professional, and entirely unbothered.
“Mrs. Vance is currently under active federal investigation for bank fraud, identity theft, and corporate forgery,” I said clearly into the microphone. “The video footage of her son smashing a ceramic plate into my head has already been seized by the Minneapolis Police Department from her own home security system. If she continues to slander my name on corporate property, my attorneys will file a five-million-dollar defamation lawsuit against her by four o'clock today.”
Richard Sterling, Lorraine’s high-priced attorney, instantly paled. He grabbed Lorraine’s arm and whispered furiously into her ear: “Shut up, Lorraine! Shut up right now! They have the house video!”
Lorraine stared at me, her eyes wide with shock as her lawyer forcibly dragged her toward the exit doors, pushing the camera crew out into the street.
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David Mercer walked up to me, placing a supportive hand on my shoulder. “Are you alright, Maya?”
“I’m better than alright, David,” I smiled softly, touching the light bandage on my forehead. “They think they’re playing a game of social media. They don't realize I’ve already laid the steel reinforcement.”
