Chapter 4 - The Handcuffs Clack
Mason’s face contorted into a mixture of confusion and annoyance. "What kind of game are you playing? You don't have an attorney. You don't have anything."
Before he could finish his sentence, the door to the adjoining bathroom swung open, and Evelyn Vance stepped out, holding a tablet displaying the live feed of their entire conversation. At the same second, the main hospital door slammed open, and four uniformed police officers, led by Detective Ramirez, flooded into the room.
"Mason Vance and Beatrice Vance," Ramirez announced, drawing his handcuffs. "Put your hands behind your backs. You are under arrest for aggravated assault, unlawful imprisonment, tampering with evidence, and grand larceny."
Beatrice gasped, dropping her handbag as her face turned pale white. "What is the meaning of this?! This is an outrage! She fell on the stairs! She's crazy! She's unstable!"
"Save it for the magistrate, ma'am," Officer Ramirez said coldly, grabbing Beatrice’s arms and ratcheting the steel cuffs tight around her wrists. She let out a sharp shriek of indignation. "We have the entire incident on 4K video from your kitchen, along with the blood evidence recovered from your laundry room."
Mason backed away toward the window, his eyes wide with sudden, terrifying panic. "Wait! This is a domestic misunderstanding! I didn't touch her! I wasn't even there!"
"You were there, Mason," I said, my voice echoing clearly through the small room. "You stood right over me while I screamed. You told me I'd learn to obey. And just now, on live police recording, you confessed to isolating me and attempting to force my resignation."
Evelyn stepped forward, dropping a thick stack of legal documents onto the bedside table. "This is an emergency asset freezing order, Mason. As of twenty minutes ago, all joint bank accounts have been locked by court order. The locks on the house on Oakridge Drive have been changed by court officers, and a temporary restraining order prohibits you, your mother, or your father from coming within five hundred yards of my client."
"You can't do this!" Mason yelled, struggling as two officers forced his arms behind his back. "I'm her husband! Everything she has belongs to me!"
"Not anymore," I said, looking him dead in the eye. "You thought you broke my leg to keep me trapped. All you did was break the last link holding me to you."
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As the officers dragged Mason and Beatrice down the hallway in handcuffs, surrounded by staring nurses and patients, Mason turned his head back, screaming my name with a terrifying blend of rage and desperation.
I didn't turn away. I watched until the double doors swung shut behind them, leaving the room in absolute, beautiful silence.
