Chapter Six: The Montgomery Defense
The Montgomery attorneys attacked immediately.
They called Thomas Bell a thief seeking immunity.
They accused Emily of stealing confidential corporate records.
They claimed the audio recordings were manipulated.
They suggested Rosa had been paid.
They questioned Sarah Mitchell’s professional conduct.
They even argued that Victoria’s words in the hospital had been misunderstood because she was distressed.
The family hired public relations firms, private intelligence consultants, and former prosecutors.
For several days, the media became a battlefield.
Anonymous sources described Emily as ambitious, unstable, and obsessed with revenge.
Old photographs appeared of her working as a waitress during college.
Victoria’s supporters used the images as proof that Emily had married Ethan for money.
One newspaper printed the headline:
FORMER WAITRESS DESTROYS MANHATTAN DYNASTY
Emily read it from her hospital bed.
Then she laughed.
It hurt her ribs, but she laughed anyway.
Daniel looked confused.
“What is funny?”
“They think waitress is an insult.”
She had worked double shifts to pay tuition after her father died.
She had carried coffee at dawn, attended accounting classes during the day, and studied until midnight.
Every tip had moved her closer to freedom.
Victoria believed privilege created worth.
Emily knew work did.
The public relations campaign began to fail when former employees came forward.
A driver remembered transporting boxes from Ethan’s study after the balcony fall.
A contractor admitted Victoria paid him in cash to inspect the railing but keep no written record.
A hospital administrator revealed that Ethan had tried to transfer Emily to a private rehabilitation facility owned by Montgomery Meridian.
The transfer was scheduled for the morning after Victoria attacked her.
The facility had limited security cameras.
No independent medical staff.
And no outside visitors without family approval.
“They were going to isolate you,” Daniel said.
Emily stared at the transfer document.
“They were going to make sure I never left.”
The most damaging witness was Ethan’s former assistant, Claire Nolan.
Claire had worked for him for six years.
She gave federal agents access to an archived company phone that Ethan believed had been destroyed.
The messages were brief but devastating.
Three days before the fall, Victoria had texted:
Is the balcony ready?
Ethan replied:
Yes. She still suspects nothing.
After Emily fell, Ethan sent another message.
She’s alive.
Victoria answered:
Then stay close until we decide what comes next.
Ethan was arrested before sunrise.
Police removed him from the townhouse in handcuffs.
Unlike Victoria, he did not shout.
He did not demand special treatment.
He simply looked toward the cameras and said, “My wife is lying.”
Emily watched the arrest on television.
Sarah stood beside her bed.
“How does it feel?” the nurse asked.
Emily considered the question.
She expected satisfaction.
Instead, she felt hollow.
“Like waking up from a marriage that never happened.”
Sarah adjusted the blanket over her arms.
“You survived him.”
“Surviving is the first part.”
“What is the second?”
May you like
Emily looked at the television as Ethan disappeared into the police vehicle.
“Taking back everything he tried to erase.”
