Chapter 6 - The Digital Counter-Offensive
By Friday morning, Arthur Vance called me with an update that made my morning coffee taste exceptionally sweet.
"Eleanor, your son-in-law just stepped into a trap of his own making," Arthur said over the phone, his voice laced with amusement. "Last night, Caleb logged into a public alumni forum from his office network and posted several defamatory, anonymous claims about Mia’s professional background, attempting to sabotage her upcoming freelance graphic design contracts."
"Is it traceable?" I asked, watching Mia through the kitchen window as she strolled with Noah in the garden.
"Directly to his corporate terminal," Arthur laughed. "Not only did we capture the server logs, but my tech specialist also intercepted an email draft where he attempted to contact one of Mia's former university professors to spread malicious gossip."
"What are our options?"
"We don't just defend ourselves anymore, Eleanor. We strike with absolute finality. I've prepared a comprehensive dossier combining the nursery video, the financial concealment records, the recent defamation attempts, and the signed property release. We can hand this directly to Apex Financial’s ethics committee and file for an immediate, fault-based divorce with full asset reallocation."
"Do it," I said without hesitation. "Let’p finish this cleanly and permanently."
That afternoon, two things happened simultaneously across the city.
First, the finalized divorce and custody papers were hand-delivered to Caleb by a court bailiff right as he stepped out of an elevator on the executive floor of Apex Financial.
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Second, a secure digital envelope marked CONFIDENTIAL: ETHICS & COMPLIANCE was delivered to the inbox of Arthur Sterling, Caleb's division director.
Within forty-five minutes, Caleb was summoned to the executive suite. When he walked in, he didn't find his supportive director. He found Sterling sitting beside a corporate HR representative and a company attorney, looking at a paused video screen that displayed the nursery crib, a crying baby, and Caleb's own cold voice echoing through the office speakers.
