“Daniel understands how to exhaust people. He may not need to win if he can delay the funds, damage your reputation, and make the process painful enough.”

Evelyn read the filing. In it, Daniel described himself as a devoted husband who had always encouraged her creativity, called the one-dollar valuation symbolic, and claimed Evelyn had manipulated his trust by hiding negotiations with collectors.

She looked at Rebecca. “He wants the court to believe he supported me.”

“He wants the court to believe whichever version helps him today.”

Evelyn set the document down. “Then we show them yesterday.”

Rebecca began collecting evidence. There were emails from Daniel to colleagues calling the attic Evelyn’s “little paint cave.” There were texts to Lauren joking that divorce would finally free him from “two hundred canvases of emotional wallpaper.”