Chapter 4 - The Trap Is SetBy 4:00 AM, the hospital room at Millbrook Community Hospital was quiet, save for the rhythmic, soft hum of the heart monitor. Emma lay in the bed, a warm blanket pulled to her chin, her face pale but her breathing steady. The doctors had assured me she had no internal bleeding, but the concussion and the severe bruising would take weeks to heal.
I sat in the plastic chair beside her bed, holding her small, cold hand in mine.
Leah, my personal attorney and the co-founder of Blackridge Holdings, walked into the room, her face serious as she carried a thick leather folder.
"Frank," she said quietly, pulling up a chair. "The police have Caleb and Diane in custody, but Caleb’s cousin, Sheriff Mercer, is already trying to interfere. He’s claiming that the shed was part of the residential lease, and that Caleb had a legal right to restrict access to his wife under 'marital privacy laws'."
"He's trying to bury the assault charges?" I asked, my jaw clenching.
"Yes," Leah nodded. "And Diane is already contacting their family lawyers, claiming that you broke into their private home and assaulted her son. They are trying to turn the narrative around, painting you as a violent, overbearing landlord."
"They can try," I said, looking down at my daughter’s bruised face. "But they don't know about the forensic audits."
"What did you find, Frank?"
"For six months, Caleb has been siphoning money from Emma’s personal bank accounts," I said, opening my laptop. "He forced her to sign a power of attorney, then used her credit to secure three different high-interest commercial loans to fund his failing concrete business. When Emma realized what he was doing and threatened to leave him, he locked her in the shed to keep her quiet."
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"This is grand larceny and financial coercion, Frank," Leah gasped, her fingers tracing the financial lines on my screen. "If we present this to the federal prosecutors, Caleb’s cousin won't be able to touch the case. It becomes a federal matter."
"We aren't presenting it yet," I said, a cold, quiet smile touching my lips. "Diane is scheduled to hold a press conference tomorrow morning on the steps of the courthouse, trying to paint her son as an innocent victim of a wealthy, corrupt landlord. I want her to climb as high as she can on that mountain of lies. Because the fall is going to be magnificent."
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