“He froze everything,” I said.
“I expected that,” she replied calmly. “I am filing for emergency relief immediately.”
The next blow came in legal form, carefully worded and strategically framed.
Everett’s attorney filed a motion requesting a psychological evaluation, describing my actions as obsessive and unstable, turning my documentation into evidence of paranoia and my preparation into signs of emotional imbalance.
I read the motion twice, feeling the shift from anger to something colder and sharper.
“They are trying to make me look irrational,” I said when I sat across from Diane.
“They are trying to make you defend your competence,” she replied. “That is how this works.”
The hearing was scheduled within days.
In the middle of that chaos, Gregory Hayes called me, his voice smooth and controlled as he suggested that my behavior might be interpreted unfavorably if it reached the courtroom, referencing vague memories of me being emotional at social events in a way that was both false and calculated.
When the call ended, Diane looked at me and said, “That was intimidation, and it will not help them.”