Chapter 12 - Desperate Counterattacks
By Thursday morning, Ryan was cornered, humiliated, and facing total professional ruin.
His real estate agency had lost four major listings in forty-eight hours. His clients didn't want to work with a man accused of stealing money from his wife and throwing his own son’s bed out.
Desperate to regain leverage, Ryan hired a high-priced, aggressive divorce attorney named Richard Sterling—a man known for dirty courtroom tactics.
At 2:00 PM, Arthur Vance received a formal legal counter-filing from Sterling’s office.
Ryan was suing for:
Emergency Temporary Sole Custody of Ethan.
Immediate Spousal Support of $15,000 a month.
Invalidation of the Property Trust, claiming he was subjected to "duress and coercion" when he signed it eight years ago.
In his supporting affidavit, Ryan made shocking, completely fabricated claims against me. He swore under oath that I was an "emotionally unstable mother," that I suffered from severe rage episodes, and that I had "kidnapped Ethan in the middle of the night to alienate him from his father."
When Arthur read the affidavit to me over the phone, my hands shook with rage.
"He’s lying under oath, Arthur," I said, my voice trembling. "He knows I've been the primary caregiver since the day Ethan was born! He worked sixty hours a week while I built my business from home so I could be with Ethan!"
"Calm down, Sarah," Arthur said smoothly, his experience shining through. "Dirty tactics are the last refuge of a drowning man. Sterling wants us to panic and offer a quick cash settlement. We aren't going to do that."
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"What are we going to do?"
"We are going to let Ethan speak," Arthur said softly. "Not in a courtroom—but to a court-appointed child advocate. Let's see what a child psychologist thinks of Ryan’s 'loving father' act."
