Chapter 6 - The Lion’s Den
We returned to the Moretti Tower as the city began to swallow the afternoon light.
The media circus outside had doubled in size, held back only by three dozen private security guards wielding riot shields.
Inside the executive boardroom, the war had already begun.
Six high-powered attorneys, dressed in identical charcoal suits, sat around the long glass table with files spread out before them.
When Alexander and I walked through the doors, all six men stood instantly.
"Report," Alexander commanded, pulling out the head chair and gesturing for me to sit beside him.
The lead attorney, a sharp-featured woman named Evelyn Vance, cleared her throat.
"Derek Carter has filed an emergency petition for conservatorship in the Cook County Probate Court."
I gripped the edge of the glass table.
"Conservatorship?"
"He is claiming you suffer from severe schizophrenia, accompanied by paranoid delusions," Evelyn explained without flinching.
"He submitted forged medical records from a clinic in Evanston indicating you attempted self-harm twice last month."
"That is an absolute lie!" I cried, my voice echoing off the glass walls.
"We know it's a lie, Miss Whitcomb," Evelyn replied smoothly.
"However, the judge assigned to the emergency hearing is Judge Robert Harris."
Alexander let out a low, humorless chuckle.
"Harris is on the Falcone payroll."
"Has been for fifteen years," Evelyn confirmed.
"The hearing is scheduled for tomorrow morning at nine o'clock."
"If you do not appear, a bench warrant will be issued for your arrest."
"If you do appear, Harris will likely grant Derek temporary custody pending a psychiatric evaluation."
I looked at Alexander, panic threatening to claw its way back into my chest.
"He planned this."
"Of course he did," Alexander said, leaning back in his chair with supreme indifference.
"Derek understands bureaucracy better than street violence."
"He thinks the law will protect him from me."
"Can he take me?" I asked, my voice barely audible.
"Over my dead body," Alexander answered without a second of hesitation.
He turned toward Evelyn.
"Open the ledger."
Evelyn blinked, startled.
"The Whitcomb ledger?"
"Page forty-two," Alexander instructed, his eyes fixed on the city below.
"There is an offshore shell company registered in the Cayman Islands under the name Blue Horizon Enterprises."
Evelyn rapidly typed into her encrypted laptop.
Within ten seconds, her eyes widened behind her wire-rimmed glasses.
"Good God."
"Tell her," Alexander said.
"Judge Robert Harris owns forty percent of that company," Evelyn said, looking at me in utter disbelief.
"And Derek Carter laundered two million dollars through that exact account three weeks ago."
A sudden, electric rush of adrenaline surged through my veins.
"So the judge isn't just corrupt," I said, leaning forward.
"He is Derek’s co-conspirator."
"Precisely," Alexander smiled, his eyes glinting like polished steel.
"Tomorrow morning, Derek thinks he is walking into a courtroom to put a collar around your neck."
"Instead, he is walking directly onto the scaffold."
"What do you need me to do?" I asked, surprising even myself with the steady resolve in my voice.
Alexander looked at me, his gaze sweeping over my face, lingering on my eyes.
There was a flicker of something raw and profound in his expression, an admiration that transcended old loyalties.
"I need you to walk into that courtroom tomorrow looking like the heiress you are."
"I need you to look Derek Carter in the eye and show him that you are not his victim anymore."
"Can you do that, Emily?"
I thought about the three years I had spent trembling behind locked doors.
I thought about the bruises that had healed, and the invisible scars that never would.
And then I thought about my father, smiling in the old photograph, believing that I had his blood.
May you like
"I won't just look him in the eye," I said, my voice ringing clear and cold through the room.
"I will watch him burn."
