Chapter 9 - Evelyn's Fake Crisis
Two days after Victoria filed the emergency protective orders, the consequences of Julian’s actions began to tighten around him like a noose. He had been served with the restraining order at his corporate office, humiliating him in front of his colleagues and superiors. Desperate to regain the upper hand and force communication, Evelyn decided to play her trump card: a medical emergency.
At 1:00 p.m. on Friday, my phone buzzed with an incoming call from a local hospital number. Since it wasn't Julian or Evelyn’s blocked digits, I answered, fearing it might be someone from Dr. Aris’s office with Leo’s lab results.
“Is this Clara Vance?” a brisk, administrative woman’s voice asked. “I am calling from Mercy General Hospital’s Emergency Department. Your mother-in-law, Evelyn Vance, was brought in by ambulance an hour ago. She is claiming severe cardiac distress and collapse due to chronic malnutrition and family estrangement. Her son is here, but he requested we contact you immediately to bring the child so she can say goodbye.”
My grip tightened on the phone. Chronic malnutrition and family estrangement. Evelyn was actually staging a fake dying scene in an emergency room just to guilt-trip me into violating my own restraining order and bringing Leo into their clutches.
“Nurse,” I said clearly, making sure to hit the record button on my call-logging app. “Please check your hospital security registry immediately. There is an active, judge-signed emergency restraining order protecting my son and me from both Evelyn Vance and her son, Julian Vance, due to documented child endangerment.”
There was a sudden gasp of silence on the other end of the line, followed by the sound of shuffling papers. “Ma'am? An emergency order?”
“Yes,” I continued firmly. “Furthermore, if you check her blood work, you will find she is not malnourished in the slightest. She has been consuming high-protein, nutrient-dense bone broth for weeks—broth that her son stole from my recovering child’s medical diet. This 'cardiac distress' is a theatrical performance designed to circumvent a federal court order.”
Before the nurse could respond, I heard a familiar, shrill voice screaming in the background of the hospital line: “Is that her? Give me the phone! Clara, you heartless bitch, get down here right now! My heart is failing because you tore my family apart!”
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Then, another voice—a stern, male attending physician—cut through the background noise: “Mrs. Vance, your EKG is completely normal, your cardiac enzymes are zero, and your blood pressure is textbook perfect. Get out of that bed and stop wasting emergency room resources immediately, or I will have security escort both you and your son off the premises for trespassing.”
The line went dead. I smiled, deleted the voicemail, and poured myself a fresh cup of tea.
