Husband abandoned his disabled wife in the forest, unaware that a mysterious man was watching everything

And Michael? He panicked. Emma watched it unfold in real time. Text messages poured into the burner phone—some frantic, some cold. First came the emotional appeals, then the veiled threats, then silence, then finally a call from his attorney.

Rachel answered. “Mr. Blackwell, this is now a legal matter. All communication to my client must go through me. If you continue to contact her directly, we will include harassment in our filings.”

Emma listened from across the table, her spine straight, her hands calm. The time for fear was over.

Chris stood behind her, silent as always, but ready.

Tom Davis had stayed on another day, working with Rachel to file the emergency motions. The evidence they’d gathered—from the financial manipulations to the voice recordings—was now in the hands of the district attorney’s office. By late afternoon, two judges had signed off on emergency orders: asset freeze, business injunction, restraining order, order to appear. It was happening.

“He won’t take it lying down,” Rachel warned. “He’s got deep pockets and a PR team that thinks this is a branding problem, not a felony.”

Emma gave a dry smile. “Then let them try to brand around attempted murder.”

Rachel arched an eyebrow. “That phrase—it’s accurate, but it hasn’t been charged yet.”

“That depends on what else we find.”

“What else is there to find?” Chris asked.

Tom answered, looking up from his laptop. “Digital forensics. If we can prove Michael and Vanessa communicated about removing Emma, even in coded language, the DA will charge conspiracy to commit.”

And then, as if summoned by the word, Emma’s phone lit up with a new alert. An email forwarded by Tom from a recovered archive, bounced through an encrypted tunnel, landed in her inbox. The subject line was innocuous: Need to finalize Q4 projection. But the body:

“Assuming phase 2 goes as expected, we’ll need to reframe the narrative quickly. She’s no longer sustainable as a partner on either front. I’ll handle the transition. You just be ready to step in. —MJ”

Below it, a one-line reply from Vanessa: “Understood. Hope it’s quick. The longer she’s around, the messier it gets.”

Silence filled the room.

Rachel spoke first. “That’s it. That’s your smoking gun.”

Chris turned to Emma. “You okay?”

She nodded slowly. “I thought seeing it written like that would hurt more, but it doesn’t. It just confirms everything I already knew in my gut.”

Tom sat back in his chair. “I’ve sent this to the DA. He’ll be arrested by morning.”

Emma looked out the window. Snow had begun to fall again, slow and steady. The same woods that had nearly swallowed her now seemed to exhale, as if the storm had passed, leaving something cleansed in its place.

“What happens next?” she asked.

Rachel’s tone was even but firm. “Michael will likely be charged with conspiracy to commit a felony, wire fraud, and attempted abandonment of a vulnerable adult. Vanessa may be charged as an accessory. Then comes trial, possibly a plea. And the business? It’s yours again. We filed the injunction this morning. He can’t touch it.”

Emma let the words sink in. Then she stood—without help, without apology. “Okay,” she said. “Then let’s take it all the way.”

Later that night, the knock came just after midnight. Emma’s heart jumped, but Chris was already at the door, gun holstered but hand steady. He looked through the peephole, then relaxed and opened the door.

Detective Emily Parker stood there, a no-nonsense woman in her forties with a steel-cord voice and a badge that meant business. “Ms. Johnson,” she said, stepping inside. “I wanted to tell you in person.”

Emma sat up straighter. “Yes?”

“Michael Johnson is in custody.”

The room exhaled.

“He was arrested at his office,” Parker continued. “Tried to claim the files were forged, then tried to claim they were therapy notes, then stopped talking.”

“Will he be held?” Chris asked.

“He’s being arraigned in the morning. Given the nature of the charges and the weight of the evidence, we’ll be requesting no bail. The judge is already reviewing the request.”

“What about Vanessa?” Emma asked…