Chapter 5 - LEGAL WARFARE
The next morning,
my office was a sanctuary of glass and steel.
Marcus,
my lead attorney,
sat across from me with a tablet.
"They've hired a firm,"
he said,
"but they're in a panic."
"Celeste’s father tried to call the board to freeze our action."
"But he found out,"
"that I also sit on that board."
I sipped my black coffee,
feeling the sharp heat on my tongue.
"Did they try to pay?"
I asked.
Marcus shook his head.
"They don't have it,
Mara."
"Adrian spent the last of the clinic’s liquid cash on the honeymoon."
"They were banking on a new round of funding next month."
"Funding that is now canceled,"
"because no one invests in a doctor being sued by their primary creditor."
I looked out at the skyline.
Adrian had always been a gold digger,
he just didn't realize he had been digging in a mine I owned.
He thought he had traded up for a surgeon,
but he had actually married a mountain of debt.
"Initiate the seizure of the equipment,"
I said.
"Every laser,"
"every surgical table,"
"every piece of software."
"If they can't pay in cash,"
"they can pay in parts."
Marcus nodded,
his fingers flying across the screen.
"What about Adrian?"
he asked.
"He’s technically an executive of the clinic now."
"He signed the employment contract yesterday."
I smiled,
and it felt like a cold sunrise.
"Good."
"That means he's personally liable for the payroll taxes."
"And the clinic hasn't paid those in three months."
Adrian had wanted to be a 'power couple.'
He was about to find out that power is a double-edged sword.
My phone rang,
a restricted number.
I picked it up.
"Mara,"
Adrian’s voice was ragged,
"please."
"Celeste is having a breakdown."
"The bank is at the clinic."
"They're taking the furniture,
Mara."
"In front of the patients."
I leaned back in my chair,
the leather creaking softly.
"You should have looked at the fine print,
Adrian."
May you like
"But then again,"
"you never were very good at the details."
