Chapter 6 - THE TRAP IS SET
For the next two weeks, I played the role of a desperate, broken woman.
Under Thomas’s instructions, I called my mother three times a week, leaving crying voicemail messages begging her not to sell the house, pretending I was on the verge of an emotional breakdown. I stopped answering client emails, letting her believe her interference with Harrison Media had successfully crushed my financial independence.
Beatrice took the bait completely.
On a rainy Tuesday evening, my mother called my phone. Her voice was dripping with triumphant, cruel satisfaction.
"I see reality is finally setting in, Sarah," Beatrice said over the speakerphone. (Thomas was sitting beside me at my kitchen table, recording the call through a secondary line).
"Please, Mom..." I sobbed convincingly into the receiver. "Emily hasn't eaten properly in days. She’s terrified. I have nowhere to go. Please don't sell the house. I’ll do whatever you want."
Beatrice let out a long, satisfied sigh. "It’s about time you submitted to authority, Sarah. I will come to the house tomorrow evening at 7:00 PM. I will bring a legal settlement agreement."
"What kind of agreement?" I whimpered.
"You will voluntarily surrender full legal physical custody of Emily to me," Beatrice stated coldly, laying out her master plan without an ounce of hesitation. "In exchange, I will grant you a lifetime lease to stay in the house under a monthly allowance provided by my trust. You will remain her mother on paper, but I will raise her properly."
Beside me, Thomas wrote a note on a legal pad: GET HER TO MENTION THE GRAY FOLDER.
"And... and what about David’s letter?" I choked out through fake tears. "The one in the gray folder... the one you showed Emily?"
Beatrice scoffed softly over the line. "If you sign the custody transfer, the folder stays in my safe forever. If you refuse... I will publish the contents to the family court and show it to Emily’s school principal. She will know her father thought her mother was a monster."
"Tomorrow at 7:00 PM, Mom," I said, my tone barely audible. "I’ll be waiting."
"Smart girl," Beatrice said, and hung up the phone.
Thomas immediately stopped the recording and clicked his laptop screen.
"We have her," Thomas said, his face illuminated by the green audio waves on his monitor. "Extortion, blackmail, child psychological abuse, and coercion. That recording alone is enough to secure an emergency restraining order."
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"Is that all we’re doing?" I asked, my eyes burning with resolve.
"No," Thomas smiled darkly. "Tomorrow night, we aren't just getting a restraining order, Sarah. We’re going to execute a civil search warrant with the District Attorney’s Special Fraud Unit standing right outside your front door."
