PART 2
Charles lifted the ringing phone to his ear while I remained sitting on the cold porch, keeping one hand braced against the floor and the other pressed firmly against my stomach.
The emergency siren was slowly getting closer with every passing second.
I could still see my late husband’s desk clearly through the open doorway. Papers had been disturbed, and the Manila folder Charles had brought into my kitchen was still sitting right on the table. Everything my father had walked in believing he controlled suddenly depended on legal facts he had apparently never bothered to verify.
Samantha remained on the line with me, speaking with absolute authority.
“Stay right where you are on that porch, Victoria, because emergency services are already on their way,” Samantha reminded me gently.
Lucas had protected our home, he had protected the financial accounts, and he had protected the controlling business shares in Baldwin-Gallagher Logistics. If my father had actually forged my written authorization while attempting to liquidate the estate, the legal protection Lucas built would turn my father’s own greedy actions right back against him.
I watched Charles listen closely to whoever was speaking on the other end of his call.
His face slowly drained of all its color, turning completely pale in a matter of seconds.
“What do you mean the accounts are frozen?” Charles demanded into the phone, his loud voice shaking slightly.
The ambulance had not reached my driveway yet, but something inside that house had already shifted fundamentally. Charles was no longer shuffling through the important papers on Lucas’s desk.
Then, Courtney stopped laughing entirely.
“Charles, what is going on?” Courtney asked, her voice losing all its previous mockery as she noticed his expression.
“Be quiet for a minute,” Charles snapped at her, waving his hand frantically to shut her up.
I gripped my phone tighter as another sharp contraction rippled through my lower abdomen.
“Samantha, he is listening to someone on the phone right now, and he looks terrified,” I whispered into the receiver.
“Good, because that means the bank’s fraud department has already executed the temporary freeze,” Samantha replied calmly. “Hold your ground, Victoria, because help is almost there.”
