Chapter 7 - The Ghost Appears
While Eleanor and Rachel were being dragged off to maximum-security holding cells, Michael thought the nightmare was finally drawing to a close. But as he stepped out onto the courthouse steps surrounded by a swarm of media micro-phones, a sleek black limousine pulled up right at the curb.
The tinted rear window rolled down slowly.
Sitting in the back seat, wearing dark sunglasses and a crimson coat, was Evelyn Vance—looking very much alive.
The press erupted into chaos. Photographers flashed hundreds of pictures as the woman who had supposedly drowned three years ago stepped out onto the pavement.
"Evelyn!" reporters shouted. "Are you alive? Where have you been?"
Evelyn ignored the press and walked directly up the steps, stopping inches away from Michael. She pulled down her sunglasses, revealing cold, calculating blue eyes.
"Missed me, Michael?" she purred.
"You're supposed to be dead," Michael said, stepping between her and the cameras, his body tense.
"Faking my death was necessary to hide from your family's dark debts, darling," Evelyn said smoothly, flashing a practiced, innocent smile toward the rolling news cameras. "But now I'm back. And as Emma’s biological mother, I am filing for immediate, emergency sole custody of my daughter. You are an unfit father whose home was just invaded by criminals."
May you like
Michael scoffed in disbelief. "You think a judge is going to give Emma to a ghost who conspired to poison her?"
Evelyn leaned in close to Michael’s ear, dropping her soft tone to a malicious whisper. "You have no proof I personally touched that poison, Michael. Rachel and Eleanor will take the fall. But as the legal mother, I have rights. Give me $30 million from Arthur's trust fund, or I will drag Emma through court battles until she’s eighteen."
