Chapter 10 - The Judge’s Chamber
Judge Malcolm Voss had signed Luke’s guardianship order.
My goal was to stop him from enforcing it.
Rebecca filed an emergency objection and demanded an open hearing. Voss scheduled it in chambers instead.
At the courthouse, two deputies met us at the entrance.
They had instructions to escort me to St. Matthew’s after the hearing.
Luke arrived in a clean navy suit. Helen walked beside him in pearls, carrying a leather folder.
Neither looked worried.
Luke’s eyes settled on the bruises around my wrists.
“You did that to yourself,” he said softly.
Helen smiled at Jenna.
“Confused girls cause so much damage.”
Inside chambers, Judge Voss refused to admit the garage footage because the camera installation was “unverified.”
He refused the pharmacy photograph because Marcus was absent.
He refused Arthur’s statement because Arthur had been declared incompetent.
Every road had been prepared.
Rebecca presented Helen’s recording.
Voss listened to the sentence about broken women and guardianships.
Then he turned off the recorder.
“Taken out of context.”
I understood.
He was not being manipulated.
He was participating.
Maya placed the bank transfers on his desk.
One payment went to a company called Voss Consulting.
The judge did not flinch.
“That belongs to my brother.”
Rebecca leaned forward.
“Your brother died seven years ago.”
For the first time, Voss’s hand stopped moving.
Helen opened her leather folder.
She produced a psychiatric evaluation signed that morning by Dr. Ward. It diagnosed me with acute perinatal psychosis and stated I had attempted to burn my own abdomen.
Luke added, “I tried to stop her.”
His calmness was almost perfect.
Almost.
A faint red burn crossed his palm.
The iron bar had marked him.
I pointed at it.
“Ask him how he got that.”
Voss did not.
Instead, he ordered me transported to St. Matthew’s secure unit.
Two deputies approached.
Then Maya said, “Before you take her, check the metadata on Dr. Ward’s report.”
Voss frowned.
The report showed it had been created four days earlier.
Before the garage attack.
Before my alleged breakdown.
The diagnosis had been written in advance.
That was the reward.
But Helen had another move.
She handed Voss a second report.
This one contained my signature consenting to psychiatric admission.
Rebecca examined it.
The signature was digital.
Timestamped one hour ago.
Maya traced the authorization device.
The consent had been signed from my stolen phone.
Luke had kept it.
The deputies searched him.
No phone.
Helen looked almost amused.
Then a courthouse clerk entered and handed Voss a sealed message.
His face drained.
The state judicial commission had frozen his authority pending investigation.
Someone had uploaded the bank transfers publicly.
Voss whispered, “Who did this?”
Maya smiled.
“Arthur Hayes.”
He had regained consciousness and used Greenhaven’s patient terminal.
May you like
I thought we had finally broken the judge’s control—but the public leak included one document none of us had seen.
It stated that Luke was not Helen’s only child.
