Chapter 6 - The Desperate Play
By the end of the month, Howard finally made his move.
It wasn't a physical confrontation. It was a calculated legal threat.
I received an email from a lawyer claiming to represent the Arden estate. The letter vaguely accused me of "breach of verbal contract" regarding the maintenance of Howard’s property and threatened a lawsuit for emotional distress and financial damages if I did not immediately resume payments.
It was a scare tactic. They knew I had a reputation to protect in my consulting firm. They thought the threat of a messy public dispute would force me to open my wallet to buy their silence.
They were wrong.
I printed the letter, put it in a folder, and drove to the lawyer’s office the next morning. I didn't bring my own attorney. I didn't need to.
I sat across from the man, a junior partner who looked uncomfortable the moment I handed him my own stack of documents.
“What is this?” the lawyer asked.
“This is a documented history of the 'verbal contract',” I said calmly. “This is the proof of $142,000 I have gifted or loaned to the Arden family over the last three years. You will find bank transfers, paid invoices, and text messages from Bryce and Howard explicitly begging for loans they never repaid.”
The lawyer flipped through the first few pages, his face turning pale.
“Furthermore,” I continued, leaning forward. “You will find a record of Howard Arden claiming my payments as business expenses on his defunct company's taxes, which is tax fraud. You will also find evidence of Bryce Arden using funds I provided for tuition to buy illegal substances—I have his careless text messages to prove it.”
I let the silence hang in the air.
“I am not going to sue them for the money back,” I said. “I consider it the price of admission to rid them from my life. But if you proceed with this ridiculous lawsuit, I will submit all of this into public record during discovery. I will report Howard to the IRS, and I will let the chips fall where they may.”
The lawyer closed the folder. He cleared his throat. “Mr. Vance, I... I was not aware of the full scope of this situation. My clients presented a very different narrative.”
“I’m sure they did. Tell your clients that if they contact my wife, myself, or my business again, the next envelope they receive will be from federal authorities.”
May you like
I walked out of the office.
The lawsuit was officially dropped via a short email two hours later. The Ardens had played their final card, and they had lost. The paper trail had buried them.
