Chapter 3 - The Snake Attacks
Three days later, I was discharged from the hospital.
Alejandro took an extended emergency family leave from the Army, moving us into a secure, gated residence three hours away from his mother’s sphere of influence. Surrounded by rolling green hills, heavy security gates, and quiet forests, I could finally take a deep breath without fear.
However, Victoria Sterling was not a woman who surrendered easily.
Even from behind the reinforced glass of the county correctional facility, her reach remained toxic. Using her remaining connections in high society, she hired a notorious, high-priced defense lawyer named Harrison Blake—a man famous for destroying victims' reputations in order to secure acquittals for wealthy clients.
It was a Tuesday afternoon when Marcus Vance arrived at our new home, holding an urgent court motion.
"They're playing dirty, Alejandro," Marcus said, stepping into our sunlit living room.
Alejandro poured three glasses of iced water, his face grim. "What did Blake file?"
"Blake filed an emergency injunction contesting Victoria’s arrest," Marcus explained, pulling out a legal document. "He’s claiming that Victoria was acting under 'severe emotional distress' caused by Elena’s supposed erratic behavior. He hired a private paid psychiatrist to review the fake medical notes Victoria planted in the house, and they're requesting an immediate competency hearing for Elena before the criminal trial can proceed."
I felt a cold surge of anxiety spike in my chest. "A competency hearing? They still want to prove I'm crazy?"
"It’s a delay tactic," Marcus assured me, taking my hand gently. "They want to force you onto the witness stand while you're eight and a half months pregnant, hoping the stress will trigger early labor or make you look emotionally overwhelmed in front of the press."
Alejandro stood up from the sofa, his large frame blocking the light from the window, his presence suffocatingly powerful.
"They want a public circus, Marcus?" Alejandro asked, his voice dropping into a lethal, quiet register. "Then we give them one. But it won't be Elena who gets exposed."
"What do you have in mind?" Marcus asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Victoria spent fifteen years building a reputation as a benevolent, high-society philanthropist in this city," Alejandro said, walking over to his desk and opening a steel military footlocker. "She ran three major charitable foundations. But she wasn't the only one keeping records."
Alejandro pulled out an encrypted external hard drive stamped with a red military clearance seal.
"What is that?" I asked.
"Before I deployed overseas," Alejandro revealed, looking at me with absolute clarity, "I grew suspicious of my mother’s management of my father’s estate. I hired an independent forensic accountant from the Department of Defense to quietly audit every bank account tied to the Sterling name."
May you like
Marcus stared at the hard drive, a slow, dangerous smile spreading across his face. "Alejandro... are you telling me you have the complete paper trail of her offshore illegal activities?"
"Every single dollar," Alejandro confirmed, laying his heavy hand over the drive. "I kept it quiet because she was my mother, and I hoped I was wrong. But the moment she raised a hot iron against my pregnant wife, she ceased to be my family. Send this to the District Attorney, Marcus. Tell them to add federal racketeering and wire fraud to the indictment."
