Chapter 7: The Frozen Cards and Panicked Calls
"That's impossible!" Theresa shrieked, snatching the medical report from his hands. "She's lying! She probably paid a doctor to exaggerate so she could punish us!"
"Read the court order, Mom!" David yelled, pointing a trembling finger at the legal notice. "We have an emergency custody hearing on Monday morning! She filed for divorce!"
David yanked his phone from his pocket and frantically dialed my number—completely forgetting, in his panic, that Theresa still had my physical iPhone sitting turned off in her luggage.
The call went straight to voicemail.
"I need to call a lawyer," David muttered, pacing the kitchen floor. "I need to hire someone right now. We need to retain the best family defense attorney in Portland before Monday."
He opened his banking app to check his checking and savings balances for a legal retainer.
The screen loaded, spun for three seconds, and then flashed a bright red notification banner:
ACCOUNT ACCESS RESTRICTED: PER ORDER OF MULTNOMAH COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT (EX-PARTE ASSET PRESERVATION MANDATE). CURRENT AVAILABLE BALANCE: $0.00.
David stopped breathing. He tapped the screen again. Then he checked his credit card portal—the one he had used to charge $8,450 worth of Key West resort fees, first-class upgrades, and deep-sea fishing charters over the last five days.
CARD TERMINATED: FRAUD / UNAUTHORIZED USE REPORTED. LIEN PENDING.
"My accounts are frozen," David choked out, backing away from the island until his spine hit the refrigerator. "She froze everything. I don't even have enough money in my checking account to buy groceries, let alone pay a five-thousand-dollar retainer."
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Theresa’s arrogant facade finally cracked. She looked down at the court summons, her eyes landing on the section labeled Criminal Referral Consideration: Oregon Revised Statutes 165.570 — Interference with Making a Report.
For the first time all week, neither of them had a single word to say.
