Chapter 7 - The Story They Sold
Carmen Lee helped me understand something I'd been too furious to see: Lily wasn't only afraid of Mara. She was afraid of being disbelieved. That fear had been practiced and rewarded until it sounded like the truth.
An investigator working with Detective Valdez showed Anita and me public pages from the fundraising campaign. Donations had been solicited to cover Tommy's supposed medical care, missed mortgage payments, and emergency travel. None of those expenses matched the hospital records or our bills.
One donor had posted, "This brave mother never gives up." Under it, Mara had replied with a heart.
"Was Tommy ever seriously ill?" the investigator asked.
"He gets regular checkups. Nothing like what they're describing." I looked at the printed page. "They used his name. His face."
Anita warned me that proving fraud would take financial records, platform cooperation, and a careful timeline. Public suspicion was not enough to obtain every private account.
That night, Lily woke crying. She'd dreamed that someone had come to collect Tommy because she'd missed a line. I stayed beside her and let her finish speaking before I answered.
"Nobody can take Tommy because you didn't act right," I said.
She watched my hands. "But Mommy said the nice people need a sad ending, or they won't help."
"A sad ending to what?"
"Our story. The one where you leave us."
She pressed her forehead against my arm. "I wanted you to be the daddy in the real story."
I promised her I was listening now.
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At eleven, Anita forwarded a copy of a letter sent to my employer by Quiet Harbor Media. It demanded that the company "address its employee's behavior" before Nolan released more footage.
The attached file carried a label that turned my stomach: EPISODE TWO — THE RESCUE.
