The following months were harder than any courtroom scene.
That was something Daniel had never understood.
Winning a hearing didn’t make living in my body easier.
I had to relearn almost everything.
How to move from my chair to my bed without help.
Which grocery-store aisles were wide enough to turn around comfortably.
How long it took to get two children ready for school when I couldn’t simply run upstairs because Noah forgot his homework.
The house required modifications.
The insurance funds Daniel had touched were supposed to help pay for them.
My employer allowed me to return to work remotely at first.
Rachel drove the children when I couldn’t.
A contractor widened the bathroom doorway, lowered part of the kitchen counter, and eventually replaced the temporary metal ramp with a permanent one.
I hated needing help.
But I hated being underestimated more.
Daniel’s financial disclosures arrived in November.
They were worse than I expected.
He had opened two credit cards I knew nothing about.
The charges included hotel rooms, jewelry, restaurants, and trips from the months before my accident.
He had also borrowed against his retirement account.
After a letter from Daniel’s attorney, Vanessa returned $6,000.
Through her lawyer, she claimed she hadn’t known where the money came from and wanted no further involvement.
Daniel managed to return another $11,000 by getting rid of his interest in the luxury SUV lease and liquidating an investment account.
A substantial amount was still gone.
Marcus explained that the missing money could be considered when the marital property was divided, but nothing happened automatically.
So we kept documenting.
Daniel kept making the same mistake.
He believed pressure would make me accept a bad deal.
First, he offered to waive any claim to the furniture if I stopped pursuing the missing funds.
I declined.
Then he offered to repay more money if I immediately agreed to equal parenting time.
I declined again.
Custody wasn’t something I was willing to bargain for money.
Next came a long message claiming that Rachel, Marcus, Rebecca, and even the rehabilitation center had turned me against him.
I saved it.
