Chapter 14 - GREGORY SLOAN’S DEAL
Gregory Sloan agreed to cooperate.
That news reached Marcus before it reached me.
He exploded.
A courthouse deputy later testified that Marcus slammed a fist into the parking garage wall when his attorney told him.
Gregory’s cooperation was devastating.
He admitted notarizing signatures without my presence.
He claimed Marcus told him I had already signed and that the transactions were authorized.
Weak excuse.
Still an admission.
More importantly, Gregory had emails.
Marcus wrote.
NORA DOESN’T NEED TO UNDERSTAND STRUCTURE.
JUST KEEP HER NAME WHERE WE NEED IT.
Another.
IF SHE EVER FILES, WE FRAME THE ENTITIES AS HER INVESTMENT DECISIONS.
Another.
MERCER HANDLES THE PERSONAL SIDE.
YOU HANDLE THE MONEY.
Gregory claimed he never understood the medical plan.
Maybe.
Investigators would decide.
Then he revealed the betrayal that nearly broke our case.
Someone inside Dana’s legal-aid office had been leaking scheduling information to Night Glass.
Dana looked physically sick.
An internal review identified a contract receptionist named Michelle Dean.
She had accepted cash.
Not much.
Seven thousand dollars.
For hearing dates.
Meeting times.
Visitors.
No privileged legal files.
But enough to help Marcus’s investigators know where I would be.
Michelle admitted it immediately.
“I didn’t think anyone would get hurt.”
Dana stared at her.
“You sold the location of an eight-month-pregnant client fleeing an abusive spouse.”
Michelle cried.
“I thought they were just building a case.”
“That is building a case.”
The leak explained how Vanessa knew exactly when I would leave the first courthouse hearing.
It explained why Night Glass appeared outside Dana’s office.
It explained too much.
For the first time, I became angry at Dana.
“You said I was safe.”
She absorbed it.
“I was wrong.”
“How do I trust any of this?”
“You don’t have to trust blindly.”
She slid her phone toward me.
“Independent security review.”
“New access logs.”
“Different meeting site.”
“No contract staff on your file.”
She met my eyes.
“I’m not asking you to believe me because I’m your lawyer.”
“I’m showing you what changed.”
That distinction mattered.
Marcus demanded a mistrial-like reset of the family proceedings because of media attention and leaks.
Judge Cho refused.
Then she did something I respected.
She asked both sides whether transferring the case to another county would increase confidence in neutrality.
Dana agreed.
Marcus’s new lawyers hesitated.
Then agreed too.
The case moved.
Farther from Elias.
Farther from Marcus’s local influence.
A new judge would handle the next phase.
Marcus had spent weeks implying my father contaminated everything.
Now the case was moving somewhere Elias had no institutional connection at all.
Marcus should have been pleased.
May you like
He wasn’t.
Because the farther the case moved from his influence, the less useful his favorite accusation became.
