Chapter 10: The Counterattack
Back at the estate, Marcus was spiraling. His legal and financial teams were frantically trying to do damage control, but the leaked documents were too thorough, the paper trail too clean. Desperate to regain control, Marcus resorted to his usual tactics: intimidation and manipulation.
Evelyn’s phone began to blow up. Dozens of blocked calls flooded in, followed by a string of voicemails. She sat at Sarah’s kitchen table, listening to them on speakerphone with Arthur on the line. First, Marcus was demanding: "Evelyn, get back here right now. You are making a massive mistake." Then, he was pleading, playing the victim: "Evie, please, you know how stressed I've been. I'm sorry." Finally, when silence was her only answer, the mask slipped again, and he resorted to threats: "I will ruin you. I will drag your family's name through the mud."
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Evelyn didn't react. She felt nothing for the desperate man on the recording. She calmly transcribed each voicemail, downloaded the audio files, and dragged them into a secure, encrypted cloud folder labeled "Evidence."
Meanwhile, Eleanor hired a sleazy crisis PR firm to spin the narrative. Blind items began popping up in society blogs, suggesting Evelyn was mentally unstable and had fabricated the financial documents during a "hysterical episode." They were trying to gaslight the public, painting the victim as the villain. But Evelyn just closed her laptop, her resolve turning to steel. Let them spin their lies; she had the truth, and she was ready for war.
