Chapter 17 - The Fracture In Schaumburg
By Wednesday afternoon, the walls of Daniel’s rented apartment in Schaumburg felt like they were shrinking by inches every hour.
The sink was piled with unwashed plastic takeout containers.
The yellow legal pads he had covered in manic calculations were scattered across the laminate flooring.
His phone was ringing with calls from Pendelton’s junior attorneys, but he refused to answer.
An hour earlier, he had received a certified letter from his mother’s personal lawyer in Evanston.
Eleanor had not merely threatened him; she had executed a codicil removing him entirely from her revocable living trust.
The Evanston house, the family investments, the country club memberships—everything was being transferred to an educational endowment upon her death.
She had left him a single silver dollar dated 1968 and a handwritten note:
*You have desecrated your father's memory and ruined your own future.*
*Do not attend my funeral when the time comes.*
Daniel sat on the edge of his worn sofa, his breathing shallow and erratic.
The front door clicked open, and Julianna stepped inside, carrying a folder of press clippings.
She looked frantic, her mascara slightly smudged under her dark eyes.
"Pendelton’s office just called an emergency meeting," she said, her voice shaking.
"Claire didn't fold, Daniel."
"She didn't offer a settlement."
Daniel looked up, his eyes bloodshot and vacant.
"What did she do?"
"Her attorneys filed a sixty-page counterclaim in federal court," Julianna said, dropping the folder onto the cluttered coffee table.
"She didn't just sue Pendelton; she sued me personally for tortious interference with business relations."
"She’s demanding ten million dollars in punitive damages."
"My bank accounts are already frozen because of the first Chicago audit!"
Julianna stepped closer, her hands clenched into trembling fists.
"You told me she was passive!"
"You told me she was a quiet, obedient wife who would crawl into a corner if we threatened her reputation!"
Daniel let out a low, hysterical chuckle.
"I thought she was," he whispered.
"For twelve years, I walked over her every single day, Julianna."
"I came home at midnight, smelling of whiskey and other women, and she just handed me my dinner."
"I thought she was weak."
"She wasn't weak, Daniel," Julianna shouted, her voice echoing in the cheap, empty apartment.
"She was taking notes!"
Julianna grabbed her leather purse from the counter, backing toward the front door as if Daniel were contagious.
"I’m done," she said through trembling lips.
"I am going to Vance’s office tomorrow morning."
"I am going to sign an affidavit stating that Pendelton and you orchestrated this entire leak without my consent."
Daniel surged to his feet, knocking a plastic chair to the floor.
"You sign that affidavit, Julianna, and you admit to perjury!"
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"I would rather spend six months in minimum security than let Claire Montgomery take every penny I will ever earn for the rest of my life!"
The door slammed shut behind her, leaving Daniel standing alone in the suffocating silence of his rented room.
