Chapter 4 - The Freeze
While Luke sat in a high-security cell awaiting his preliminary indictment hearing, Evelyn moved with predatory swiftness against his business empire.
Luke had built his reputation as a high-flying real estate developer, owning luxury properties across the state. But his empire was built on a foundation of sand, funded almost entirely by funds siphoned from my stolen family trust and high-interest loans taken out against properties registered in my name without my knowledge.
On Friday morning, Evelyn executed a multi-court filing that froze every single asset tied to Luke’s name.
"Every bank account, every credit line, every property deed is locked," Evelyn told me as she adjusted the pillows behind my back. "By noon today, his legal defense team realized their retainer checks were going to bounce."
"What about his family?" I asked, remembering his mother, Victoria—a icy, status-obsessed woman who had spent years making subtle, cruel comments about my "failure" to give her son an heir.
"Victoria called me ten minutes ago, screaming," Evelyn smirked. "She claimed I was destroying her family's reputation. She tried to demand that I drop the civil injunction so she could pay Luke's bail bond."
"What did you tell her?"
"I told her that if she stepped foot near this hospital or tried to contact you, I would release the video footage of Luke pouring the boiling water—which, by the way, was captured on the hidden security cameras I installed in your kitchen six months ago."
I gasped, looking at Evelyn in shock. "You had cameras in my house?"
Evelyn sat on the edge of my bed, her eyes filling with a mixture of pain and fierce devotion. "Caroline, three years ago, I realized Luke was completely isolating you. I knew if I tried to force my way in through the front door, he would move you away or do something drastic. So I bought the security company he hired to manage the house's smart system."
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"You were watching?" I whispered.
"I had a team monitoring the feeds twenty-four hours a day," Evelyn admitted, her voice trembling. "The agreement was that the moment he used physical violence that threatened your life, we would move in with local authorities and a ironclad legal trap. The day he grabbed that pot... my team called the paramedics before he even picked up his keys to drive you to the hospital. We set the trap, Caroline. And he walked right into it."
