Chapter 4 - THE FIRST THING CLAIRE REMOVED
Claire did not return home alone.
Her attorney arranged a protective order and coordinated supervised access so Grant could later collect necessary belongings without approaching her.
Claire changed the locks.
She revoked Grant’s health-care authority.
She removed him as beneficiary from accounts where she could lawfully do so immediately and began revising her estate plan with Beth.
She froze a joint investment account after discovering two attempted transfers initiated from Grant’s laptop.
Each decision required paperwork.
Each also removed one assumption Grant had made about her.
Then Beth found the document Claire had been dragged into the garage to sign.
It was not simply a business-credit agreement.
It granted Westbridge a security interest in distributions Claire received from the Dawson trust and authorized Grant to act as liaison with the trustee.
Claire stared at the signature line.
Grant claimed the arrangement would last six months.
The agreement allowed extensions.
More troubling, an earlier draft had already been sent to a lender with a notation reading:
Spousal approval expected Friday evening.
Friday evening was the night of the garage attack.
Grant had promised the lender Claire would sign before he ever asked her.
Claire called the trustee and formally denied authorization.
The lender suspended its review.
That action threatened Westbridge immediately.
Grant’s attorney called Beth within two hours.
Grant wanted Claire to reconsider the collateral agreement in exchange for “avoiding escalation in the marital dispute.”
Beth read the message aloud.
Claire almost laughed.
“He threatened me with a heated bar.”
“He’s calling that a marital dispute.”
Claire looked at her attorney.
May you like
“Then we stop speaking his language.”
She filed for divorce the following morning.
