Chapter 2 - The Freeze Order
By 8:30 AM the following morning, the sun was burning through the grey fog over the downtown Baltimore courthouse.
My ear was still ringing faintly from Jared’s second slap, and the right side of my jaw was swollen purple, but I wore a crisp navy blue suit, my dark hair pulled tightly back into a neat bun. Amy walked beside me, holding a file folder, while Christopher led us up the wide marble steps toward the family law courtrooms.
Inside Courtroom 3B, Judge Brenda Vance sat behind the bench, reviewing the emergency petition Christopher had filed forty-five minutes earlier.
Beside Christopher’s table, the defense table stood completely empty.
Dwight hadn't been served yet. He was likely still at the Baltimore apartment, sleeping off the stress of the previous morning, expecting me to come crawling back to beg for forgiveness once my lip stopped bleeding.
"Mr. Sterling," Judge Vance said, looking down over her gold-rimmed glasses at Christopher. "You are requesting an immediate, unannounced ex-parte freeze on four separate accounts held at First National Bank, along with an emergency restraining order against Jared, Dwight, and Susan Miller?"
"I am, Your Honor," Christopher said smoothly, stepping forward. "We have provided documented proof of severe physical battery occurring less than twenty-four hours ago, certified by the emergency room staff at Mercy Medical Center."
He reached into his briefcase and placed a heavy tablet on the clerk’s desk.
"Furthermore, Your Honor," Christopher continued, "we have submitted a recorded confession from the primary respondent, Dwight Miller, detailing an explicit, pre-arranged criminal conspiracy to defraud my client of forty-eight thousand dollars through marriage, domestic subjugation, and deliberate financial isolation."
Judge Vance tapped her stylus against the digital tablet, watching the video snippet of Ryan’s cell phone recording showing Jared slapping me twice, followed immediately by the boutique video of Dwight and Ashley outlining their scheme.
As the audio of Dwight saying, "By this time next year, Elizabeth will be broke, divorced, and out of the picture," echoed through the silent courtroom, Judge Vance’s face turned into a mask of pure, hardened stone.
She set her stylus down. She pulled a heavy red stamp from her desk.
STAMP. STAMP. STAMP.
"Emergency ex-parte injunction granted in full," Judge Vance declared, her voice booming off the oak walls. "All liquid assets in the names of Dwight Miller, Jared Miller, Susan Miller, and Miller Property Holdings LLC are immediately frozen pending a full evidentiary hearing. A temporary restraining order is issued against all three individuals, effective immediately. They are to remain at least five hundred feet away from the petitioner, her residence, and her place of employment."
She looked directly at me sitting at the counsel table.
"Ms. Miller—or rather, Ms. Vance," the judge corrected gently, reading my maiden name from the file. "The Baltimore City Sheriff’s Department will execute service of these orders within the hour. You are advised to secure your personal belongings with police escort."
"Thank you, Your Honor," I whispered, my voice steady for the first time in two days.
As we stepped out of the courtroom into the marble hallway, my phone began to vibrate violently in my purse.
The caller ID displayed a name I had once treasured: Ashley (Maid of Honor).
I looked at Christopher. He gave me a single, slow nod.
I answered the call and pressed the speakerphone button.
"Elizabeth!" Ashley’s frantic, high-pitched voice came screeching through the speaker. "Elizabeth, where are you?! Dwight is going crazy! He just went to the bank to pay the contractor for his father’s shop, and all his cards were declined! The bank teller told him his accounts are locked under a court order!"
I stood in the center of the sunlit hallway, holding the phone away from my face, my expression entirely calm.
"Hello, Ashley," I said softly.
"What did you do?!" Ashley screamed, her voice echoing over the receiver. "Are you out of your mind?! Dwight’s father is going to lose his business deposit! You need to call the bank right now and tell them it was a mistake!"
"It wasn't a mistake, Ashley," I said, my voice dropping into an icy register. "And tell Dwight he has thirty minutes to clear his things out of his father's apartment before the Sheriff arrives to serve his father with a felony battery warrant."
Silence fell over the line for three seconds.
"You... you can't do this, Elizabeth," Ashley stammered, her arrogance suddenly cracking. "We... we were your family..."
"You were never my family, Ashley," I said smoothly. "You were just a bridesmaid taking notes for a thief. And by the way... I watched the boutique video. You really should be more careful about synchronized cloud folders."
Ashley let out a sharp, strangled gasp.
May you like
I ended the call, turned my phone off, and looked at Christopher.
"Let's go get my things," I said.
