The Flower That Grew from Ashes novel Chapter 82

Everyone in the Lehman Estate was busy preparing for the upcoming grand wedding.

Meanwhile, Annelise, entirely out of everyone's sight, quietly set her own "counterattack plan" into motion.

She couldn't pin all her hopes on that mysterious "him."

She had to ready her own sharpest weapons.

On Wednesday afternoon, Annelise used the excuse of a headache, claiming she wanted to visit a nearby private clinic for some sedatives, and asked Lizzie for half a day off.

She didn't take a Lehman family car.

Alone, she hailed a cab and headed in the exact opposite direction of the Lehman Estate.

It was an inconspicuous street-side cafe in the old district of the city.

There weren't many customers inside, and the air was filled with the rich aroma of roasted coffee beans mixed with the scent of old books.

Annelise chose a booth in the deepest corner and ordered a glass of lemon water.

Ten minutes later, a middle-aged man wearing a dark gray trench coat and carrying a black briefcase pushed the door open and walked in.

He was around forty-five, with a refined face, but his eyes were extraordinarily sharp, like a blade ready to be unsheathed at a moment's notice.

He scanned the room and quickly locked onto Annelise in the corner.

He walked over, sat down across from her, and skipped the pleasantries, getting straight to the point.

"Ms. Sargent, hello. I'm Zachary Coleman."

He was the ace lawyer Vivian Lincoln had introduced her to, renowned in the industry for his "iron-blooded, zero-compromise" approach to domestic disputes.

Rumor had it that he once represented a wealthy wife whose husband and mistress conspired to leave her penniless. He fought an eight-hundred-million-dollar property division case on her behalf and won, causing a massive sensation.

"Mr. Coleman, hello."

He sat in silence for a long time after finishing the materials.

The only sound in the cafe was the faint buzzing of the coffee grinder.

After a full five minutes, he looked up at Annelise, his voice dark and heavy.

"Ms. Sargent, from a legal standpoint, the actions your husband has taken against you go far beyond the scope of a standard marital fault."

His voice was calm and professional, but every word carried weight.

"Performing a sterilization procedure on you without your consent constitutes aggravated assault and medical malpractice."

"Terminating a healthy pregnancy without your knowledge falls under forced termination."

"Having an extramarital affair and fathering a child with someone else... while bigamy is notoriously difficult to prove without evidence of them cohabiting as husband and wife, in a divorce proceeding, this is more than enough to establish extreme marital fault."

"You have every right to demand maximum damages in the division of marital property, and more importantly, to ensure he faces the legal consequences he deserves."