Chapter 3 - The Retainer
In a sleek glass-walled conference room overlooking Midtown Manhattan, Arthur Sterling slid his reading glasses down the bridge of his nose and studied the financial disclosures Carrie had placed before him. Sterling was a legendary matrimonial attorney known as "The Shark of Madison Avenue," a man who typically represented billionaires seeking blood in high-stakes divorces.
“You’re asking for full custody parameters, an immediate freeze on marital assets, and forensic accounting of Marino Holdings going back five years,” Sterling noted, a faint spark of professional respect lighting up his eyes. “Most wives in your position come in here weeping about reconciliation. You’re mapping out a corporate dissolution.”
“My husband is a strategist, Mr. Sterling,” Carrie said calmly, resting a protective hand on her swollen abdomen. “If I show any hesitation, he will hide assets through shell corporations in the Caymans before the ink dries on the separation papers. We need to strike while he’s still distracted by his mistress and his collapsing household staff.”
Sterling tapped a silver pen against the mahogany table. “Marino’s net worth is conservatively estimated at one hundred and twenty million dollars, much of it tied up in commercial real estate and venture capital. But asset division is only half the battle. What about the prenup?”
“Signed under duress nine years ago,” Carrie replied smoothly, sliding a second folder across the table. “Complete with an addendum regarding infidelity clauses and financial transparency that Dominic breached three years ago when he set up a secondary slush fund under his sister's name. I have the wire transfer logs.”
Sterling stared at her in momentary silence, then grinned broadly. “Remind me never to get on your bad side, Mrs. Marino. Consider the asset freeze filed. We’ll serve him at his corporate headquarters before the closing bell rings today.”
Meanwhile, at Marino Capital in downtown Manhattan, Dominic was having the worst Monday of his professional life.
His chief financial officer had just informed him that four major institutional investors were pulling their capital out of a flagship real estate fund, spooked by anonymous rumors of executive instability and domestic turmoil. Worse, Walter Hayes had refused Dominic’s frantic phone calls offering a fifty-percent salary increase to return.
“Mr. Marino?” His young executive assistant poked her head through the doorway, her face pale. “You have... visitors in the lobby. Process servers from Sterling & Associates. And they’re accompanied by federal marshals regarding an asset preservation order.”
Dominic stood up so fast his leather chair crashed backward against the wood-paneled wall. “That’s impossible. My assets are legally protected!”
“Not anymore, sir,” a crisp, professional voice echoed from the doorway.
A tall man in a bespoke navy suit walked uninvited into the office, dropping a thick stack of legal documents squarely onto Dominic’s pristine glass desk.
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“From Caroline Whitaker Marino,” the server stated coldly. “You are officially served with divorce proceedings, a temporary restraining order barring unauthorized persons from the Westchester estate, and an emergency motion for spousal and child support.”
Dominic stared down at the documents, his chest tightening violently. The first page bore his wife’s signature—not her married name, but her maiden name, scrawled in bold, unyielding ink: Caroline Whitaker.
