Chapter 5 - The Legal Retaliation
By 9:00 AM on Monday, Eleanor secured an emergency court order freezing all bank accounts held by Thomas Swift, Richard Swift, Carol Swift, and Swift Apex Holdings, alongside a lis pendens on Carol’s lakefront house.
Around 11:30 AM, Richard called my office in total panic. "Jade! Our corporate bank accounts are locked! My personal debit cards were declined! What the hell did you do?"
Carol snatched the phone: "Jade! You evil, spiteful woman! You locked my accounts! I was at the hospital paying the deposit for my gallbladder surgery, and my card was rejected in front of everyone! You are trying to kill me!"
"You had $300,000 of stolen money in your account, Carol," I replied. "You used $200,000 of it to buy a lake house. If you need medical care, sell your designer handbags. The police have received the footage of you hitting Zoey. Warrant officers will be visiting your extended-stay hotel shortly."
Two hours later, Thomas was weeping in my corporate lobby, sinking to his knees on the marble floor. "Please, stop this! The police came to my brother's house and arrested my mother for child battery! She can't survive in jail! We can't buy food! Jackson was suspended because his tuition check bounced!"
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"You wanted to buy their respect with my money," I said, looking down at him. "You never respected my work. You looked at my success and thought you were entitled to steal it."
I gave him my ultimate ultimatum: sign over all rights to marital property, transfer the lake house back to Botanica Jade, grant me sole custody of Zoey with zero visitation for Carol, and take a guilty plea for corporate misdemeanors—or face full felony indictments and ten years in state prison.
