A SON IN LAW TURNS BILLIONAIRE AFTER DIVORCE

Chapter 11

Ah.

Leonard looked down at the glowing screen in his hand and chuckled softly. I forgot to change her contact name.

He let out a breath and calmly swiped his thumb across the screen. His carefully calculated punishment for Susan and her parasite family had already been set into motion. There was no way in hell he was going to miss this call.

He pressed accept and put the phone to his ear.

“Hello,” he answered, his voice completely flat.

“Leonard, I’ve already hired an attorney and filed a formal petition with the court to reopen the division of our marital assets,” Susan’s voice blasted over the speaker, cold, clipped, and dripping with smug confidence. “Send me your current address right now. The court needs somewhere to officially serve you the papers.”

Heh. Leonard smiled to himself. So she actually had the nerve to sue him. Not that he was even remotely surprised by her greed.

“Give me a minute,” he said calmly. “I’ll be hiring an attorney of my own. From now on, if you have anything else to say to me, say it directly to my lawyer.”

Click.

He hung up the phone before she could sputter another word.

He had neither the time nor the patience to waste playing petty games with her in court. If she wanted a full-scale legal war, fine. He would gladly give her one. And he would make damn sure she regretted the very day she decided to start it.

Leonard went straight to Sydvale’s top divorce law firm and asked for Thomas Stone, one of the most ruthless and sought-after divorce litigators in the entire state.

As luck would have it, Thomas happened to have a rare cancellation that very afternoon.

The front-desk receptionist glanced up, taking in Leonard’s clean but modest casual clothes, before giving him a polite, cautious warning.

“Mr. Buck, before I schedule you, you’re fully aware of Mr. Stone’s hourly billing rate, correct?”

“Three thousand dollars an hour,” Leonard replied without blinking. “I’m well aware.”

The receptionist secretly clicked her tongue in disbelief. Judging entirely by his appearance, she hadn't expected him to be a man made of serious money.

She quickly picked up her desk phone. After a brief, quiet conversation, she rose to her feet with a much brighter smile.

“Mr. Buck, please follow me.”

She led him down a polished mahogany hallway, knocked lightly on a frosted glass office door, and pushed it open.

Thomas Stone sat behind a massive oak desk. He looked to be in his mid-forties, wearing a perfectly tailored charcoal suit and thin-framed designer glasses. There was something unnervingly sharp and predatory about his gaze—the kind of man who seemed capable of spotting a lie before you had even finished telling it.

“Mr. Buck.” Thomas gestured toward the leather chair opposite his desk. “Have a seat.”

The receptionist lingered by the door. “Mr. Stone, would you like me to bring in some coffee?”

“No, thank you,” Leonard smiled faintly. “I doubt I’ll be here very long.”

Once the door clicked shut, Thomas folded his hands neatly on the desk. “You seem to be in a rush, Mr. Buck. So let’s get straight to business.”

“That works for me,” Leonard nodded. “I divorced my ex-wife two days ago. Right after the papers were signed, I bought a lottery ticket and won the jackpot. Now my ex-wife is suing me, claiming I concealed marital assets and demanding that the property division be completely reopened.”

Thomas adjusted his glasses, a look of professional amusement crossing his face. “If the divorce timestamp and the lottery ticket purchase have clear, unchallengeable records, then this is barely even a case. Honestly, Mr. Buck, you hardly need an expensive lawyer for this. Submit the timeline evidence to the judge, and it’s a guaranteed win.”

“I know. At first, I was going to leave it alone and let her waste her breath,” Leonard’s smile completely vanished, his eyes turning ice cold. “But since she insists on coming after me… I’ve changed my mind.”

“Oh?” Thomas leaned forward, looking mildly intrigued. “What exactly do you want to do?”

“Before we even got married, my ex-wife was sleeping with another man and got pregnant. The kid isn't mine. Here is the official certified paternity test.” Leonard slid a thick manila folder across the polished desk. “When I signed the divorce agreement, I voluntarily walked away from everything. But if Susan wants the court to reopen the property settlement…”

Thomas slowly opened the folder and read the medical report. He looked up, his eyebrows raised. “You want your share of the marital assets back.”

“Every single cent I’m legally entitled to,” Leonard said firmly. “And all the financial and emotional damages for the fraud, the relentless cheating, and forcing me to raise another man’s child for eight years.”

Thomas considered the file for a moment. “I should probably remind you, Mr. Buck, my retainer and hourly fees are astronomically high. There’s a very real possibility that whatever compensation you manage to recover from your ex-wife won’t even cover my legal bill.”

Leonard chuckled softly. “That won’t be a problem at all, counselor. The lottery prize was fairly substantial.”

“How substantial are we talking?”

“Five hundred million dollars.”

Thomas had just lifted his ceramic coffee cup to take a sip.

“Pfft—!”

Hot coffee sprayed instantly across the desk and papers.

For several long, stunned seconds, Sydvale’s most famous divorce attorney could only sit there staring at him like he had grown a second head.

Fairly substantial? Thomas charged corporate rates that made wealthy executives wince, but even if he worked grueling hours until the day he dropped dead, he would never come remotely close to earning five hundred million dollars.

Leonard calmly reached across the desk and handed him a clean tissue. “I’ve heard you’re the best divorce litigator in the city, Mr. Stone. And all I want is to make her entire family pay for what they did.”

Leonard let out a dry, bitter laugh. “I married into her family as a live-in son-in-law. For years, I handed over my entire paycheck and lived off a measly hundred bucks a month in pocket money. I put up with every insult and piece of abuse for the sake of the child I thought was mine. Now that I know the truth? Well, even the nicest guy has his absolute breaking point.”