Chapter 11 - The Wolf at the Door
My phone buzzed violently against my leg. It was Marcus, the lead security guard I had posted outside Maya’s hospital room.
"Mr. Vance, we have a code red," Marcus said, his voice tense, background noises of shouting echoing through the line. "A squad of Cook County Sheriff’s deputies just showed up with an emergency custody warrant signed by Judge Miller. Your mother and brother are here with two social workers. They're demanding we surrender Maya immediately."
"Don't let them in that room, Marcus!" I yelled, running toward the vault’s steel elevator with Henry sprinting behind me.
"We can't draw weapons on county deputies, sir!" Marcus shouted over the phone. "They have a direct court order. The head social worker says Maya is being removed to a county psychiatric evaluation facility for her own protection!"
"I'm ten minutes away!" I screamed, bursting out of the bank lobby and sprinting toward my town car. "Hold that door for ten minutes!"
Henry jumped into the passenger seat, dialing his phone frantically. "Judge Miller is on Eleanor’s charity board. That corrupt bastard issued an ex parte emergency order without notifying me! Julian, drive!"
Tires smoked as I slammed the gas pedal to the floor, weaving through the morning rush-hour traffic on Michigan Avenue, running red lights with the horn blaring.
May you like
My mind was burning with my father's letter.
Elena hadn't slipped on black ice. Eleanor had killed the mother of my child to protect her empire of lies. And now, she was about to take Maya away into a state facility where an eight-year-old girl would disappear into the system, drugged into silence until Eleanor could drain the remaining twelve million dollars.
