Chapter 5 - The Assets Freeze
The silence in the forty-fourth-floor boardroom was so heavy you could hear the faint hum of the skyscraper’s ventilation system filtering the Chicago air twenty miles an hour.
Marcus Vance was sweating now. The shark-like swagger had vanished, replaced by the grim realization that he had walked into a slaughterhouse representing a client who had lied to him.
He slammed the manila folder shut and glared at Diane. "You told me there was no paper trail. You told me the medical staff didn't document anything."
"They didn't document anything there!" Diane protested, her voice rising to a frantic, screeching pitch. "That urgent-care doctor must have been bribed! Emily is a penniless nobody—she couldn't afford a cup of coffee, let alone a medical conspiracy!"
"Mrs. Bennett," Katherine Sterling said, leaning forward and resting her elbows on the mahogany table with a predator’s grace. "My client didn't need to bribe anyone. She spent three years meticulously cataloging every abusive incident, every financial threat, and every instance of child endangerment committed under your roof. While you were busy treating her like a maid, she was building a federal-grade legal case."
Jason buried his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking with a mixture of panic and humiliation. "Mom... what did you do? Why did you have to hit Lily? Why couldn't you just leave her alone?"
"Shut up, you spineless coward!" Diane snapped, striking Jason across the arm with her cane. "If you had half the backbone of your father, she wouldn't have dared look at us twice!"
"Mr. Bennett," Katherine said, ignoring the family squabble entirely as she addressed Jason directly. "As of 8:00 AM this morning, Judge Harrington signed an emergency asset-freeze order covering all joint marital accounts, corporate trust distributions, and secondary investment properties held in your name or co-signed by your mother. Furthermore, temporary sole legal and physical custody of Lily Bennett has been granted exclusively to my client."
Jason’s head snapped up, his eyes wide behind his crooked glasses. "Sole custody? No! You can't keep me away from my daughter! Emily, you can't do that!"
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"I did do it, Jason," I said, my voice completely devoid of emotion. "When your mother struck our daughter across the face, and you sat there eating steak and checking your phone... you forfeited every right to call yourself a father."
Marcus Vance slowly stood up, smoothing down his jacket with trembling fingers. He looked at Diane with undisguised contempt. "My firm is formally withdrawing from representation, effective immediately. Send your future correspondence to your new criminal defense attorneys, Diane. You're going to need them."
