The next morning, Sarah and Clara met with an experienced lawyer named David Miller.
David examined the medical chart timestamps alongside the power of attorney document copy.
His face grew very serious as he read through the fine print on the second page.
David: This is a very clear case of fraud under state property laws.
Sarah: Can we get my house back right away?
David: We can file an emergency motion, but Mark has a clever legal team behind him.
David: We need something more to prove he planned this before your hospital stay.
Sarah: Where would I find evidence like that?
David: Look for bank records or messages between Mark and his business partner.
Sarah left the lawyer's office feeling both hopeful and deeply worried about the evidence.
As she walked down the street, her phone rang from an unknown local telephone number.
She answered cautiously, unsure if it was another legal notice from Mark's lawyers.
Sarah: Hello, who is this speaking?
Elena: Sarah, please do not hang up the phone on me.
Sarah: Elena?
Sarah: Why are you calling me from a new number?
Elena was Mark's personal assistant at his private real estate investment firm.
Sarah had always been polite to Elena, but they were never close friends before today.
Elena: I saw what Mark did to your property files at the corporate office yesterday.
Elena: It made me feel sick to my stomach to watch him laugh about it.
Sarah: Elena, why are you telling me this right now?
Elena: Because Mark is planning to sell your house to a foreign buyer on Friday.
Sarah stopped walking right on the sidewalk as shock rushed through her body again.
If Mark sold the house to a third party, getting it back would become almost impossible.
Sarah: He cannot sell it that fast!
Elena: He has already prepared the deed transfer paperwork on his office computer.
Elena: I saved copies of his emails planning this scheme three months ago.
Sarah: You have his private emails from three months ago?
Elena: Yes, he asked me to draft the power of attorney form long before you got sick.
Sarah covered her mouth with her hand as she processed this terrible revelation.
Mark had not just taken advantage of a sudden hospital visit when she fell ill.
He had planned her illness or waited actively for an opportunity to trap her legally.
Sarah: Why are you risking your own job to help me, Elena?
Elena: Because he cheated me out of my commission last year, and you were always kind.
Elena: Meet me at the diner near the city hall in thirty minutes.
Sarah turned around immediately and jogged back toward her lawyer's office downtown.
She knew that Elena's emails could change the entire direction of this legal battle.