I stepped out of the lawyer’s office on a rainy afternoon with a numb expression painted on my face. The downpour matched the leaden sky above and, in many ways, the mood I wanted the world to see—a defeated ex-wife whose marriage had ended in bitter acrimony. Mike’s triumph was laid out in cold, clinical terms: in our divorce settlement, he was set to inherit the house we’d once shared, the car we drove around in, and every last dollar we had saved together. To anyone watching, it looked as though he had “won” our divorce. But little did he know, I had been planning for this moment for months.
 
Inside, as I left the lawyer’s office, I felt a hidden surge of exhilaration. I knew that while Mike celebrated his “victory,” I had a secret strategy in motion—a plan designed to reclaim every asset he thought he had stolen from me.