Chapter 14 - The Conservatorship Hearing
The burner phone buzzed violently late that night while Arthur was deeply asleep beside me, his breathing slow and even, completely unaware of the storm brewing beside him. I slipped silently out of bed, crept into the bathroom, and checked the glowing screen. It was a highly urgent text from Marcus, the private investigator. "Arthur formally filed the emergency conservatorship papers today. He fast-tracked it through a corrupt judge he knows. The private, closed-door hearing is scheduled for Friday morning at 10 AM. Dr. Thorne is listed as his star medical witness. We have everything we need. Be ready to move." Friday. That was only forty-eight hours away. If Arthur won that hearing, I would legally become his property in the eyes of the state. He could commit me to a real, terrifying psychiatric facility against my will, aggressively drain my accounts of the two hundred million dollars, and disappear forever to a non-extradition country, leaving me to rot in a padded cell for the rest of my life. The next two days were an exhausting, terrifying masterclass in psychological warfare. Arthur was visibly excited, humming cheerful classical tunes to himself as he packed his briefcase, buying me expensive, massive bouquets of white lilies, acting like the absolute perfect, doting husband who was about to win the lottery. "I have some very important business to take care of on Friday morning, Clara," he told me over an expensive, candlelit steak dinner on Thursday night, generously pouring me a glass of heavy red wine. "It's going to secure our beautiful future forever. I want you to stay home, rest, take your medicine, and when I get back, we are going to have a massive celebration." "I can't wait, Arthur," I smiled, calmly, methodically cutting my steak while looking him dead in his cold, blue eyes. "Whatever makes you happy." I knew exactly what his sinister, vile plan was. He was going to court to formally declare his wife mentally incompetent, using my engineered absence as physical proof that I was far too unstable, too far gone to even appear before a judge to defend myself. But he had absolutely no idea what was actually coming for him.
