Chapter 15 - The Flying Monkeys
With Evelyn and Richard’s marriage fracturing into a bitter divorce and bankruptcy proceeding, the remaining extended family members—aunts, uncles, and older cousins who had historically benefited from Richard’s country club hosting and my parents' social standing—attempted one final, coordinated effort to bully me into withdrawing my legal claims.
In psychological terms, these individuals are known as "flying monkeys"—surrogates recruited by a narcissist to harass the victim, invoke family guilt, and restore the old, dysfunctional status quo.
Over the course of three days in early August, my corporate email inbox and my office voicemail were inundated with a barrage of unsolicited communications from relatives I hadn't spoken to in years. My Aunt Beatrice sent a lengthy, weeping email accusing me of "tearing the Hayes family tree up by the roots." A cousin from Chicago left a voicemail claiming that my father had been taken to an urgent care clinic with chest pains due to the stress of my "malicious lawsuits," and demanding that I drop the restraining orders immediately to save his health.
I did not delete the messages, and I did not respond with emotional defensiveness. As a marketing director who understood the power of documented, systematic communication, I compiled every single email, voicemail transcript, and text screenshot into a single, comprehensive digital dossier.
On Thursday afternoon, I utilized a specialized legal communication service through Marcus Vance’s office to issue a formal, mass digital response to every extended family member who had contacted me.
The communication was titled: FORMAL NOTICE OF LEGAL DISCOVERY AND CEASE-AND-DESIST.
Attached to the email were three unredacted, verifiable documents:
First: the complete, timestamped transcript of the Lakeside Grand Resort security footage, detailing the exact two hours and forty-eight minutes Toby spent locked out in the corridor, accompanied by Evelyn’s recorded statement that my son was not "actual family."
Second: the certified summary of the United States Attorney’s Office venture capital fraud audit, confirming that Richard Montgomery had systematically falsified commercial leases and double-pledged assets to deceive investors, resulting in his federal receivership.
Third: a formal medical report from Toby’s pediatrician, documenting the severe dehydration and psychological distress my five-year-old son suffered as a direct result of his abandonment at the resort.
In the body of the email, I wrote a single, uncompromising paragraph:
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“To all members of the Hayes and Montgomery extended families: The attached documents represent the factual, legal reality of what occurred in Maine and within Richard Montgomery’s commercial enterprises. The actions taken by my legal counsel and federal regulators are the direct, unavoidable consequences of child endangerment and financial fraud. Any further attempts by any family member to contact me, harass my son, invoke guilt regarding my parents' medical conditions, or interfere with active legal proceedings will be considered third-party harassment under Massachusetts law. Your names and communications will be immediately added to our active Superior Court restraining orders, and my attorneys will pursue civil damages against you directly. Govern yourselves accordingly.”
Within two hours of sending the dossier, the silence from my extended family was absolute and permanent. When confronted with the undeniable, cold, hard evidence of child abuse and federal fraud—backed by the threat of personal legal liability—the flying monkeys scattered back into the shadows. Not a single relative ever attempted to contact my office or my home again.
