Chapter 13 - The Case Hannah Had to Build Without Me
The financial case remained messy.
Dustin had taken the money.
That was clear.
Recovering all of it was not.
Some had gone to legitimate fighter expenses through Pierce’s company.
Some recipients had no idea the money originated from Hannah.
Her attorney explained the difference between proving Dustin wronged her and recovering funds from innocent third parties.
Hannah decided not to chase fighters who had received camp money without knowing its source.
She pursued Dustin.
The bank finalized part of its fraud finding in her favor but left several transactions disputed because of the shared-device access history.
Her attorney prepared civil claims based on the remaining loss.
The criminal investigation into the assault continued on its own timeline.
No instant conviction.
No courtroom miracle.
Just interviews, records, medical documentation, witness accounts, and waiting.
Hannah hated waiting.
She also kept going.
She returned to work.
She moved into a small apartment six miles from mine.
She bought a secondhand dining table.
The first evening I helped assemble it, I tightened one leg too much and cracked the wood.
Hannah laughed until she cried.
It was the first uncomplicated sound I'd heard from her in weeks.
Then she handed me the wrench.
“Marine instructor defeated by discount furniture.”
“I trained people, not tables.”
“Clearly.”
Life was beginning to contain ordinary things again.
That mattered.
At the gym, Pierce formally stepped away from fighter management for six months.
An outside bookkeeper separated coaching fees from athlete advances.
Fighters could no longer borrow from one another through gym accounts.
Evan helped draft a conduct policy requiring outside referral when partners or family members reported violence.
Pierce did not become a hero.
He became a man repairing damage he had helped create.
That was more believable.
Then Dustin's attorney proposed a civil settlement.
Repayment schedule.
Admission regarding unauthorized transfers.
No public statement by either side beyond what legal proceedings required.
Hannah read it.
The money mattered.
So did avoiding years of litigation.
But one clause bothered her.
It described the physical confrontation as “a mutual domestic dispute.”
She crossed it out.
Her attorney warned Dustin might reject the entire agreement.
“Then he rejects it.”
For months Hannah had accepted other people's language because she feared what happened if she objected.
Not anymore.
Two days later Dustin's side returned the draft.
May you like
The phrase was gone.
For the first time, Hannah had forced him to negotiate with reality rather than his version of it.
