Chapter 87 Lila's Frustration

• Lila Crane sat in her penthouse office, staring at the news coverage of Harold's press conference.
• The psychiatric warrant for Valerie was being pushed again—this time with added urgency. Harold had convinced Judge Martinez to escalate it from voluntary evaluation to mandatory detention, citing Valerie's "increasingly erratic behavior" and "association with dangerous criminals."
• It was technically the same warrant, but Harold was wielding it differently now. Before, it had been a threat, leverage to force Valerie's cooperation. Now, with his empire crumbling, Harold was using it as a blunt instrument—publicly declaring Valerie a danger to herself and offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to her location.