CHAPTER 6
The civil trial came next.
We sued Eleanor and Tyler for:
- Medical expenses
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Punitive damages
- Return of every penny of the stolen charity money
We also filed for an immediate divorce on Mia’s behalf — no-fault, irreconcilable differences, domestic violence. Tyler tried to fight it, tried to claim he was “still in love” and wanted to “work things out.” The judge laughed and granted the divorce in 15 minutes. Mia got her maiden name back. The condo was confirmed as her sole and separate property, free and clear. No spousal support. Nothing for Tyler.
Then the civil jury came back.
The verdict was read live on the news.
$12 million dollars in compensatory damages.
$48 million dollars in punitive damages.
Total: $60 million.
The Hale family fortune — every penthouse, every stock, every country club membership, every diamond Eleanor had ever bragged about — was seized, liquidated, and split three ways:
- 1/3 to Mia
- 1/3 to the three charities Eleanor had stolen from
- 1/3 to the other two former fiancées, who’d joined our suit
Eleanor and Tyler were left with nothing. Literally nothing. Not even a car. Not even a bed. When Tyler got out of prison, he’d be homeless, unemployable, with a felony record that would follow him forever.
The charities held a press conference the next day. They announced they were removing Eleanor’s name from every building, every plaque, every endowment. Her portrait was taken down from the hospital lobby. The symphony returned all her donations. The women’s shelter — the one she’d run for 15 years while beating vulnerable women in her own home — renamed itself The Mia Hale Center for Survivors of Domestic Violence.
Mia was asked to cut the ribbon at the reopening.
She did it with a smile on her face, wearing a bright yellow dress, surrounded by dozens of women who’d survived the same thing she had.
I stood in the back, crying, Ray’s arm around my shoulders.
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We’d won. Completely. Totally.
But the hardest part was still ahead.
