The Avalanche's Bitter Echo

I wasn't going to let him stop me. I called my lawyer and raced to the bank.

Before I even arrived, my phone rang. It was Caleb's cousin, District Attorney (DA) Dylan Sharpe.

"What's this new drama I'm hearing about, Ava?" Dylan's voice dripped with mockery. "Another play for Caleb's attention?"

Caleb's family had never given me the respect I deserved.

Only his parents, Eleanor and Arthur, had been genuinely kind to me. I had to save them.

I bit back my rage. "Dylan, did Caleb tell you I was acting?"

The silence on the other end of the line said it all.

A bitter smile twisted my lips.

"Dylan, you're the District Attorney. Is ridicule your only response to a state of emergency? If you have no intention of helping, consider this my official notice: I'm filing a complaint against you for professional misconduct with the Commission on Judicial Conduct."

Dylan's flippant tone evaporated, replaced by raw anger. "You think marrying into this family makes you a Hawthorne?" he snarled. "Let me tell you, you'll always be just a gold digger from the suburbs! If Skylar hadn't been away back then, Caleb would have never given you a second glance."

I hung up without a word and immediately sent the email to the commission.

When I got to the bank, I tried to access our joint accounts.

"I'm very sorry, Mrs. Monroe," the bank manager said apologetically, "but your credit cards have been canceled, and the joint trust has been frozen by Mr. Hawthorne."

Then, my lawyer called. The family trust fund had been temporarily frozen by the court over an alleged internal dispute.

I took a deep breath and called my gallery manager.

"Mortgage my entire private collection and liquidate all my investment portfolios. I need three million dollars in cash, within the hour."

"On it, Ava."

That still left me two million short. I called Caleb's uncle, Marcus Hawthorne.

"Uncle Marcus, Caleb's parents were in an avalanche in Colorado. They need an emergency transfer, and I'm still two million dollars short. Could you lend it to me? I'll pay you back as soon as the trust is unfrozen."

Marcus sounded genuinely shocked. "My sister and brother-in-law? Does Caleb know?"

I sighed. "I told him, but he doesn't believe me. He's with Skylar right now. You're my only hope."

"Stay put. I'll transfer it from the company's emergency reserve fund immediately!"

Just as Marcus hung up, the hospital called back. The lead surgeon from Switzerland informed me curtly, "Mrs. Monroe, you have two hours. If the funds don't arrive, we'll have to terminate the surgery and, per protocol, remove them from life support."