Chapter 4 - The Freeze Order
Elias didn’t stand up. He simply crossed his long legs, leaning back into the hospital chair as if he were sitting in an executive boardroom.
Graham’s lawyer, an oily man with slicked-back gray hair named Harrison Vance (no relation, but a notorious courtroom pit bull), cleared his throat. "Mrs. Vance—or rather, Mrs. Mercer—my client is prepared to overlook the unprovoked assault on his person outside the courtroom today. In exchange, we have drafted an amended custody and property division agreement."
Harrison laid a document across the end of my hospital bed.
I looked down at the words printed in bold at the top: *IRREVOCABLE MARITAL DISSOLUTION AND SOLE CUSTODY WAIVER*.
"You're out of your mind," I spat, my voice shaking with disgust. "You want me to hand over full custody of my twins to you and Vivian?"
"Lena, be reasonable," Graham pleaded, taking a step toward the bed, though his eyes darted nervously toward Elias’s motionless frame. "You don't have an income. You don't own the townhouse—Apex Holdings owns it. You’re medically compromised and prone to hysteria. The judge saw you lose your balance on those stairs today. Harrison has five witness statements testifying that you swung at Vivian before losing your footing."
"Witnesses you paid off in the courthouse cafeteria," I said.
"Witnesses with credible civic standing," Harrison corrected sharply. "If this goes to trial tomorrow morning, Mrs. Mercer, we will file for immediate psychiatric evaluation. You will deliver those children under state custody, and they will be placed in Graham’s care permanently. Sign the waiver. You keep fifty thousand dollars, and you walk away cleanly."
Graham offered me a gold Montblanc pen. "Sign it, Lena. Stop making this ugly."
Before I could throw the pen in his face, Elias reached out and intercepted it. He turned the heavy pen in his fingers, admiring the gold nib, before setting it gently back on Harrison’s leather briefcase.
"You're Mr. Harrison, correct?" Elias asked mildly.
"I am senior partner at Harrison & Cole," the lawyer replied, puffing his chest out. "And I don't know what kind of two-bit muscle Graham thinks you are, but—"
"I’m Elias Vance. Senior Managing Partner of Montgomery & Cross, New York."
Harrison froze. The color drained from his jowls so quickly he looked suddenly ten years older. "Montgomery & Cross? That's... they don't do domestic relations."
"We don't," Elias agreed. "We do corporate forensic liquidation and federal racketeering litigation." Elias pulled a folded blue-backed legal document from inside his coat pocket and slid it across the sheets, covering Graham’s settlement form. "This was signed by Senior Federal District Judge Raymond Walker exactly twelve minutes ago."
Graham frowned, snatching the paper. "What is this garbage?"
"That is an ex parte emergency freeze order," Elias explained calmly. "Covering every liquid, investment, and trust account tied to Apex Holdings, Mercer Real Estate Development, and Vivian Vance-Sterling."
Graham laughed, though the sound was high and brittle. "You can't freeze my accounts. On what grounds?"
"Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1341 and 1343: Mail fraud and wire fraud," Elias recited without blinking. "Coupled with grand larceny exceeding twelve million dollars stolen from the estate of Elias Vance between 2018 and 2024. As of 3:15 PM today, your credit cards are declined, your firm’s payroll accounts are seized, and the penthouse in Beacon Hill has been placed into federal receivership."
Graham’s phone in his pocket began to buzz. Then it chimed again. And again. A relentless barrage of notifications.
Harrison snatched the document from Graham’s hands, reading the judge’s signature and the docket seal. His eyes widened in sheer terror. "Graham... this isn't state court. This is federal. The freeze order is active."
Graham whipped his phone out. His screen flashed red with banking alerts: *Transaction Declined. Account Restricted. Overdraft Protection Revoked.*
"What did you do?" Graham screamed, lunging forward. "What the hell did you do?!"
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"Get out of my sister's hospital room," Elias said, his voice dropping into absolute ice. "Before I have the U.S. Marshals waiting in the lobby cuff you to the radiator."
***
