Chapter 7 - The Midnight SnareDespite the overwhelming evidence, Evelyn’s defense team tried to mount a desperate countersuit, claiming that the video of Lena was fabricated and that I had coerced Dr. Mercer into a false confession to seize my mother's shares.
They scheduled a deposition at the federal courthouse, intending to force Lena to testify under oath, hoping the trauma of her captivity would make her break on the stand.
"Don't do it, Lena," I pleaded as we sat in the kitchen of our estate the night before the deposition. "You don't have to face them. My lawyers can block the motion."
"No, Daniel," Lena said, her voice holding a strength that shocked me. She reached up, touching the fading yellow bruise on her cheek. "I’ve spent two years hiding in a locked room, listening to her tell me that I was nothing, that my daughter would grow up calling her 'mother' while I was forgotten in the dirt. I want to look her in the eye when the judge reads the sentence."
The next morning, the grand courtroom of the federal courthouse was packed with reporters and corporate lawyers. Evelyn sat at the defense table, her midnight-blue dress replaced by a plain orange jail jumpsuit, her face looking old, gray, and defeated.
Lena walked into the courtroom, wearing a sharp white tailored suit, her posture perfect, her short hair framed by the soft morning light. She looked like the queen she was always meant to be.
As Lena took the stand, the defense attorney stepped forward, his tone aggressive and patronizing. "Mrs. Ashford, you claim you were held captive for two years. But we have no physical evidence of your confinement, and we have no witnesses who can verify your story other than a discredited doctor."
"We have this, counselor," Lena said calmly, pulling a small, digital voice recorder from her purse.
She pressed play.
The speaker crackled, and then Evelyn’s voice filled the silent courtroom, loud, cold, and terrifyingly clear.
"You are going to stay in this room, Lena, and you are going to give birth to that child. And then, you are going to sign the transfer papers for Ashford Holdings. If you ever try to contact Daniel, I will make sure he joins your father in the family plot. You are dead to the world, Lena. Accept it."
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Evelyn stared at the recorder, her mouth hanging open, her body trembling with a sudden, violent panic. She had no idea Lena had managed to steal the security guard’s recording device during her escape.
The courtroom fell into a dead, absolute silence, broken only by the sound of Evelyn's desperate, ragged breathing.
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