Chapter 5 - Cracks in the Defense
The charges were severe. My father faced felony assault with a deadly weapon and elder/dependent adult abuse due to my physical disability. Rachel was charged with misdemeanor assault and child endangerment for instigating the violence in front of a minor.
A week after the incident, Rachel's lawyer reached out to Daniel, begging for a settlement and attempting to get the charges dropped.
Daniel agreed to a meeting at his lawyer's office, bringing me along so I could make my own decisions regarding the civil aspect of the case.
Rachel sat across the polished mahogany conference table, looking disheveled and stripped of her usual arrogant demeanor. Her attorney, a high-priced defense lawyer named Robert Sterling, sat beside her.
"Daniel, please," Rachel began, her voice trembling. "This has gone too far. I made a mistake. I was stressed about the party. I didn't mean for your father to hurt Clara!"
"You pushed her, Rachel," Daniel said coldly. "You watched her fall, and then you lied to cover it up."
"I panicked!" she cried out. "You're divorcing me? You're taking Noah away from me over one mistake?!"
"It wasn't one mistake," I spoke up, my voice stronger than it had ever been. "You've spent three years making sure my family treated me like trash. You fed my father's anger every chance you got. You told him I was lazy, that I was leeching off him, that I didn't deserve to be in the family."
Rachel glared at me, the fake tears momentarily vanishing to reveal the malice underneath. "You were a burden! Arthur paid for your surgeries! He paid for your physical therapy! And all you did was sit around complaining!"
"She was recovering from a car accident that nearly killed her!" Daniel snapped, slamming his hand on the table. "An accident that wasn't her fault! And Dad took the insurance payout and used it for his business while giving Clara a pittance!"
complete silence fell over the room. Sterling, Rachel's lawyer, looked uncomfortable.
"Is this true?" Sterling asked, turning to Rachel. "Was there financial mismanagement of her settlement funds?"
Rachel looked away, refusing to answer.
Daniel pulled a folder from his briefcase and slid it across the table to Sterling. "These are the financial records from five years ago. When Clara was nineteen, she received a $500,000 settlement from the driver who hit her. My father had himself appointed her financial conservator while she was in a medically induced coma. He funneled $400,000 of that money into Vance Enterprises to save it from bankruptcy."
I looked at Daniel in shock. "What?"
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"I found the paper trail in Dad's office files yesterday," Daniel told me softly. "He didn't pay for your medical care out of kindness, Clara. He used your money to save his company, and then he used the rest to keep you dependent on him so you'd never ask questions."
Sterling closed the folder and let out a long breath. He turned to Rachel with a solemn look. "Mrs. Vance, we need to speak outside. Now."
