Chapter 6: The Freezing of Assets
Beatrice’s hands shook uncontrollably. The arrogant, malicious woman was completely stripped of her bravado. "You can't do this, Evelyn! I'm your daughter-in-law! The media will destroy you! I'll tell them you threw a grieving widow out onto the street!"
"Tell them," Evelyn replied flatly, turning her back and walking toward the massive fireplace. "Harrison, what is the status of Beatrice's accounts?"
Harrison pulled out his tablet, tapping the screen with surgical precision. "At 4:05 PM, following the default of your margin loans, court orders were executed simultaneously across all your banking institutions, Beatrice. Your checking accounts, your savings, your offshore havens in the Caymans—frozen. The black AMEX was cancelled twenty minutes ago. The penthouse in Manhattan you bought last month? The locks were changed by federal marshals while you were getting your hair done for this dinner."
Beatrice gasped for air, clutching her chest. "My jewelry... my clothes..."
"Purchased with stolen company funds," Harrison interrupted ruthlessly. "Therefore, they are corporate assets subject to seizure. You are permitted to leave with the dress on your back, your personal cell phone, and your driver’s license. Nothing else."
"No!" Beatrice screamed, a sudden, explosive burst of absolute hysteria. She dropped to her knees on the marble floor, the emerald fabric pooling around her. "I have millions! I signed the papers! Arthur wanted me to have it!"
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"Arthur was planning to divorce you the week he died," Evelyn said, her voice dropping the temperature in the room by ten degrees. She turned back to look at the weeping woman on the floor. "We found the draft papers in his safe deposit box. You knew he was leaving you, and you accelerated your theft. I am showing you mercy by merely bankrupting you instead of handing the forensic evidence of your embezzlement to the District Attorney tonight."
Beatrice looked up, her face pale, her dark eyes wide with a profound, soul-crushing realization. Evelyn knew everything.
