Chapter 90: The Battle for Arthur
The conference room in the courthouse was cold, with white walls, and it felt hostile.
At the center of it all was a long table where the war was about to begin.
On one side sat Leon, beside him, his lead attorney, Henry Blackwell who was a man with a face of experience.
Across from them, Rachel was her legal team—two well-dressed lawyers who looked confident.
A little bit too confident.
She had always been good at pretending. Today was no different.
Leon didn’t bother glancing at her. Not anymore. He had wasted enough of his life on that woman.
Henry adjusted his tie, talking through the room like a blade.
"Let’s get one thing straight—Mr. Hoffman has no intention of negotiating custody with Mrs. Hoffman’s. Full custody of Arthur remains non-negotiable."
Rachel laughed softly.
"You can’t just take my son from me, Leon." She leaned forward, her red-painted nails drummed against the table.
"I am his mother. I have every right to be with him."
Leon’s jaw tightened. "A mother who uses her child as some plastic toy doesn’t deserve rights."
Rachel’s attorney spoke up with a calm, professional tone.
"With all due respect, Mr. Hoffman, the court recognises the importance of a child having both parents in their lives. We will be petitioning for joint custody. Furthermore—" he slid a document across the table—"we are demanding appropriate child support."
Leon let out a dry chuckle.
"You want money?" His voice dropped into a deadly calm tone. "After everything you’ve done?"
Rachel lifted her chin. "I raised Arthur while you were off running your empire. You think I don’t deserve compensation for that?"
"You didn’t raise him," Leon snapped, anger started coming from behind his controlled body. "You used him."
Daniel cleared his throat, attempting to regain control. "Mr. Hoffman, accusations without evidence—"
"You want evidence?" Leon cut him off immediately.
"Fine." He nodded toward Henry, who opened a thick folder and pulled out a stack of papers.
"Let’s start with this," Henry said smoothly, sliding the first document across the table.
"Bank records showing Mrs. Hoffman stealing from her joint accounts. She transferred over $1.3 million to private, untraceable offshore holdings over the past five years—without Mr. Hoffman’s knowledge."
Rachel’s smile disappeared. "That money was mine," she said coolly. "I was protecting myself—"
"You were stealing," Henry corrected. "But that’s not all. Let’s discuss the private assets you sold."
Another stack of papers hit the table.
"Jewelry, artwork, property—all liquidated under false pretenses. And not just that—personal funds meant for Arthur’s education and medical care—gone."
Rachel’s lawyers shifted uncomfortably, flipping through the documents with wide eyes.
Leon’s voice turned colder. "You drained everything you could touch. And while you were stealing from me, you were also destroying my family."
Daniel tried to recover. "Even if these claims hold weight, that does not change Mrs. Hoffman’s rights as a mother. You cannot erase her relationship with her son."
Leon’s face hardened. "A relationship?" His voice was ice. "Is that what you call shoving our son into an oncoming car?"
The room froze.
Rachel’s mask slipped. "You don’t know what you’re talking about," she snapped.
Leon’s rage burned like a boiled water, but he remained measured.
"I know everything, Rachel." He turned back to Henry. "Show them."
Henry pulled out a small flash drive, plugged it into his laptop, and turned the screen toward the room.
"Surveillance footage," he said. "From the day Arthur was hit by a car. I had it retrieved when we began this case."
The video played in silence. It showed a street outside an old hospital, the day Arthur had ’run’ toward the road.
But the truth was clear in the footage. Rachel was pushing him forward.
The lawyers on her side paled.
Leon leaned forward, "You tried to hurt my son to manipulate my daughter. You wanted Diane to think that I didn’t care for her...that Arthur wasn’t safe so you could drag him back into your toxic mess."
Rachel’s mouth opened—then closed. For once, she had nothing to say.
"And don’t think I’ve forgotten your other little secrets," Leon continued, his calm composure returnee as he laid another thick file on the table.
"The private investigators I hired were very thorough. You’ve been busy."
Henry slid a final packet across the table.
"Documented proof of Mrs. Hoffman’s multiple extramarital affairs over the last decade—along with evidence that she used marital funds to support her various... companions."
Rachel finally cracked.
"You bastard," she hissed, leaning across the table. "You think you can destroy me?"
Leon didn’t flinch. "I don’t need to destroy you, Rachel. You’ve done that yourself."
Her lawyer, visibly shaken, adjusted his tie.
"These allegations—these... accusations—we were not informed of any of this in the initial filings. We will need time to review—"
"No," Leon interrupted coldly. "You’ve had enough time. I want this over. I want her out of my life—and out of Arthur’s."
Rachel slammed her hands on the table, her veneer of control shattered like a glass falling to the ground.
"I am not walking away with nothing. I gave you my life, Leon. And you don’t get to erase me."
"You never gave me your life," Leon said quietly. "You took from it. And I’m done paying for your mistakes."
Rachel’s lawyer shifted nervously in his seat. "What... exactly are you asking for, Mr. Hoffman?"
Leon’s voice was clear... "Full custody of Arthur—no visitation, no contact. I want her rights terminated."
Rachel’s face drained of color. "You can’t do that."
"I can," Leon said simply. "And I will."
Her breathing quickened, but Leon wasn’t finished.
"I’m also filing for an immediate dissolution of our marriage—with an ironclad prenup that ensures she walks away with nothing. Not a cent."
Silence stretched across the room.
Rachel’s hands trembled slightly as she glared at him.
"You can’t erase me," she whispered. "I’ll fight you. I’ll take this to trial if I have to."
Leon’s lips curled into a cold smile.
"Go ahead. But every dirty secret you’ve ever buried will come out. And when it does?"
He leaned forward, "You’ll lose everything."
Her lawyers looked uncomfortable, already seeing the writing on the wall.
After a long pause, Daniel finally sighed, gathering the scattered evidence into a neat pile.
"We... need to confer with our client."
Leon stood without another word.
"Do that." He cast one last glance at Rachel, so empty of warmth, empty of any remaining affection.
"You’ve already lost, Rachel. And you know it."
Without waiting for a response, Leon walked out, leaving her with nothing but the wreckage of everything she had destroyed.
"Mrs. Hoffman, we have to advise you to choose another firm to represent you."
"What?!"