Chapter 18 - The Testimony That Changed the Room
Four months after the fall, I could walk short distances with a cane. My knee still swelled by afternoon. My foot sometimes tingled as if it belonged to someone else.
By then, prosecutors were reviewing the evidence of the shove and the unauthorized card use. The cases moved slowly, and each delay tested my patience more than any therapy exercise.
Sloan's updated statement acknowledged that she had tampered with my brace and shoved me during the entrance. She claimed Dad had encouraged the humiliation to move me away from the wedding payment discussions, though she also admitted she'd acted out of jealousy.
Her explanation didn't erase her choices. It did clarify how the two plans had come together.
The venue produced a chain of receipts, emails, and footage. Dad had submitted a forged authorization, then used my actual card after the fall. The records supported the financial investigation far more clearly than any angry family argument could.
Thatcher provided his observations and the messages Sloan had sent him. Josie described the timing of the guests and the payment desk. Bellamy acknowledged recording a stunt she'd known was wrong.
Mom finally gave investigators a fuller statement. She admitted she had carried my bag to Dad and knew he intended to use my card. She said she had been afraid to oppose him.
I didn't know whether that was true. I knew that fear didn't change what she'd done.
Nora reviewed the possible paths. Some charges might be resolved by negotiated pleas; others required hearings. The civil claims would be handled separately. I would not get back the months I'd lost, whatever happened.
Still, one piece of news hit me harder than the legal updates.
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Thatcher told me Sloan was selling her designer wedding dress to help pay her lawyer.
For once, the thing she'd valued more than my safety had become something she couldn't keep.
