Chapter 4 - THE TRAP IS SET
The atmosphere in the hospital room shifted dramatically over the next twenty-four hours. Calvin, an impressive actor when he needed to be, put on the performance of a lifetime. He allowed his eyes to roll back, his breathing to grow shallow and ragged, and he stopped responding to Amber’s fake, sickly-sweet inquiries.
Amber took the bait hook, line, and sinker.
Believing the heavy sedatives had finally taken their toll and that Calvin was in his final hours, Amber moved swiftly. She called her own shady attorney, a sleazy strip-mall lawyer named Vance, and ordered him to draft emergency transfer deeds for the properties.
Meanwhile, Ruby had driven to Calvin’s sprawling estate. Through the security cameras linked to Elias’s phone, Calvin and Paula watched the young woman strut into the pristine garage. The ivory classic car sat in the center, gleaming under the fluorescent lights. Ruby, wearing designer sunglasses indoors, practically drooled over the vehicle. She slid into the driver's seat, ignoring the custom cream leather that Barbara had painstakingly hand-stitched.
Ruby jammed a copied key into the ignition and twisted it.
Nothing. Not even a click.
On the camera feed, Ruby cursed loudly, hitting the steering wheel in frustration. She tried again. Dead silence. The kill switch had done its job. Furious, she stormed out of the garage, kicking a bucket of car wash soap across the concrete floor.
“Little brat,” Elias muttered, watching the screen. “Barbara would have taken a switch to her behind for treating the car like that.”
“She won't ever touch it again,” Calvin promised.
Back in the hospital room, Paula set the stage. She contacted Dr. Gable, the lead physician, and demanded a private conference room on the VIP floor for a "final legal disposition." She also made two very quiet phone calls. One to a private forensic accountant, and another to Detective Miller of the Atlanta Police Department, a man who had known Calvin for twenty years and owed him a favor for landscaping the police precinct for free.
At 4:00 PM, Amber strutted into Calvin’s hospital room, dressed in a somber black dress that was just a little too tight, playing the role of the grieving widow to perfection.
“Paula,” Amber sighed dramatically. “I think it’s time. He’s slipping away. We need to finalize the affairs so his transition can be peaceful.”
“I agree, Amber,” Paula said, her face an unreadable mask of professional detachment. “I’ve arranged for a private room down the hall. I’ve brought the master copies of the estate documents. We will review them, and if Calvin is lucid enough for even a moment, we will have him make his mark.”
Amber’s eyes lit up with unbridled greed. She motioned for her lawyer, Vance, to follow them. Ruby arrived moments later, still seething over the car but eager to secure her inheritance.
They wheeled Calvin’s bed down the hallway. To anyone watching, he looked like a man on the absolute brink of death, pale and unresponsive. But beneath the thin hospital blanket, Calvin’s mind was razor-sharp, his heart pounding with a fierce, retributive adrenaline.
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They entered the large conference room. Detective Miller was already there, wearing a plain suit, introduced by Paula simply as "an independent witness required by the state." Nurse Higgins was also present, bribed by Amber to attest to Calvin’s "competency" despite his condition.
The trap was fully set. The vipers were in the box. Now, it was time to close the lid.
