Chapter 3
The heavy front door slammed shut behind them with a definitive thud that echoed like a gunshot through the quiet suburban neighborhood. Ethan helped Laura into the passenger seat of his SUV, carefully securing her seatbelt while checking her pale face for signs of physical distress.
"Are you okay, Laura? Are you in any pain?" Ethan asked frantically, his hands shaking as he held her cold fingers tightly. "I'm just exhausted, Ethan, but we are safe now, and that's all that matters," Laura whispered, leaning her head back against the leather headrest.
He climbed into the driver's seat, starting the engine and pulling away from the multi-million-dollar estate without looking back in his rearview mirror. Behind them, through the large bay windows, Evelyn stood holding her phone, frantically dialing her high-powered corporate attorneys in Manhattan.
"I need Ethan's executive credentials revoked immediately, and file a emergency injunction on his primary trust account!" Evelyn screamed into her phone. The attorney on the other end hesitated, his voice cautious and restrained over the Bluetooth speaker.
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"Mrs. Vance, your son holds fifty-one percent of the voting shares in the primary holding firm; we cannot legally restrict his access," he explained. Evelyn slammed her phone against the marble kitchen counter, shattering the glass screen into a spiderweb of glittering, useless fragments.
She had spent thirty years building an untouchable corporate dynasty, only to watch it crumble because of her own monstrous, exposed cruelty.
