Chapter 5 - The Subpoena At The Diner
By Tuesday morning, the Sterling family had been evicted from the country club and forced into a cramped, two-bedroom extended-stay motel near O'Hare Airport.
David sat in a vinyl booth at a greasy spoon diner across the street from the highway, nursing a lukewarm mug of burnt black coffee.
Across from him sat Victoria, wearing oversized sunglasses to hide her bruised face, her expensive manicured nails chipped and unpainted.
"We have to sue her for half the assets, David!" Victoria hissed, banging her fist onto the sticky laminate table.
"Illinois is an equitable distribution state! You were married for seven years! You are legally entitled to fifty percent of that condo and her retirement accounts!"
David rubbed his bloodshot eyes, his stubble thick and unkempt.
"The lawyer I spoke to this morning laughed in my face, Victoria," David rasped, his voice cracked with defeat.
"Jessica had me sign an ironclad post-nuptial agreement three years ago when I asked her to bail out Dad’s logistics company."
Victoria froze, her coffee cup pausing halfway to her lips.
"A post-nuptial agreement? You never told us that!"
"She gave me three hundred thousand dollars to pay off my loan sharks, Victoria!" David shouted, his composure shattering.
"In exchange, I signed away every single claim to her intellectual property, her stock options, and any real estate purchased under her name! I have nothing!"
Before Victoria could reply, a tall woman in a sharp navy wool coat stepped up to the booth.
It was Sarah Jenkins, my lead litigator, accompanied by a burly process server wearing a leather jacket.
Sarah placed a thick, blue-backed legal folio right onto the center of the table, knocking over a bottle of ketchup.
"David Sterling, Victoria Sterling," Sarah announced in a clear, carrying voice that made the short-order cook look up from the grill.
"You have been officially served."
Victoria snatched the top paper, her hands shaking violently.
"What is this?"
"For you, Victoria," Sarah explained with chilling politeness, "it is a summons for Felony Assault of a Minor and Child Endangerment, filed by the Cook County State's Attorney's Office. Bail has been set at one hundred thousand dollars, cash only."
Victoria gasped, dropping the papers as if they were dipped in battery acid.
"And for you, David," Sarah continued, turning her piercing gaze onto my husband, "it is an emergency petition for Sole Legal and Physical Custody of Chloe Sterling, along with a formal Petition for Dissolution of Marriage on grounds of extreme mental cruelty and financial fraud."
David looked up at the attorney, his eyes wide and pleading like a cornered dog.
"Sarah... please. Tell Jessica I want to see my daughter. It's been five days. I haven't heard Chloe’s voice."
"You have a temporary restraining order barring you from coming within one thousand feet of Chloe, her school, or her mother," Sarah replied coldly.
"If you dial her phone, send a text, or even drive past Lincoln Park, you will spend the night in the county jail."
Two plainclothes detectives stepped through the diner's front door, badges flashing under the fluorescent lights.
"Victoria Sterling?" the lead detective asked, unhooking a pair of steel handcuffs from his belt.
"Step out of the booth and place your hands behind your back."
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Victoria began to shriek, flailing her arms and knocking dishes onto the floor as the patrons watched in absolute disgust.
David sat frozen in the booth, unable to move, unable to speak, watching his sister get dragged through the greasy glass doors into the freezing Chicago rain.
