Chapter 4 - The Maddox Counterattack
Morning broke with a relentless, glaring Texas sun.
Emily sat at the kitchen island of the safe house, a mug of decaf tea cooling in her hands.
She was wearing an oversized grey sweater and sweatpants Julian had provided. She felt bruised, heavy, and infinitely lighter all at once.
Julian sat across from her, a laptop open, monitoring the fallout.
“It’s bad,” Julian muttered, scrolling through a newsfeed. “Or good, depending on how you look at it.”
“Show me,” Emily said.
Julian turned the laptop around.
The internet had exploded.
Clips of Emily standing at the lectern, her dress torn, her voice steady, were everywhere.
The image of Sienna clutching her purse to hide the diamond pin had become a meme overnight.
But the Maddox PR machine was already spinning.
Julian clicked on a video.
It was Grant, standing outside the Maddox Holdings corporate office, flanked by two aggressive-looking lawyers and his father.
Grant looked disheveled but sorrowful. He had lost the tuxedo, replacing it with a somber grey suit.
“My wife is severely unwell,” Grant was saying to a cluster of reporters. His voice cracked perfectly. “Pregnancy can cause extreme hormonal imbalances, and Emily has been struggling with paranoia and delusions for months. The accusations she made last night are the tragic result of a mental breakdown. We are begging the public for privacy as we try to get her the medical help she desperately needs.”
Emily scoffed, a bitter laugh escaping her throat.
“Delusions. Of course.”
“Wait, there’s more,” Julian said, clicking another link.
It was an exclusive interview snippet with Sienna Vale, looking tearful and wearing no makeup.
“I was just trying to help her,” Sienna sobbed to the camera. “She attacked me. She tore her own dress in a fit of rage. Grant and I are just business partners. She fabricated those emails because she’s deeply insecure.”
Emily felt a surge of pure, white-hot anger.
They were going to play the 'crazy pregnant woman' card.
They were going to gaslight the entire world.
“They’re going to file for an emergency conservatorship,” Julian warned, his eyes grave. “Richard’s lawyers are already drafting it. They’re going to claim you’re a danger to yourself and your unborn child. If they get a judge to sign off, they can lock you in a facility and take the baby when he’s born.”
Emily’s hands slammed onto the kitchen island.
The teacup rattled.
“They are not taking my son,” she said, her voice shaking with a fury so deep it frightened her.
“Then we have to hit them harder,” Julian said. “You released the receipts, but they’re claiming you forged them. We need the kill shot.”
Emily closed her eyes, thinking back to the long nights she spent awake while Grant slept.
The nights she crept into his home office, cracking the password to his private server because he used Sienna’s birthday as the code.
She hadn't just found emails.
May you like
She had found the ledgers.
“Julian,” Emily said, opening her eyes. They were cold and clear. “Grab your laptop. We’re doing a live stream of our own.”
