Chapter 9: The Counter-Attack
Chapter 9: The Counter-Attack
"This changes everything," Clara said, reviewing the financial documents late into the night. "This isn't just a battery case anymore. This is a federal RICO case. Your father and brother are looking at federal prison for wire fraud, embezzlement, and money laundering."
But my father wasn't going down without a fight.
The next morning, a coordinated smear campaign launched across several local news outlets. Headline after headline began attacking my character.
“The Bitter Daughter: Inside Evelyn Bennett’s Long-Standing Jealousy of Her Family.” “Sources Claim Evelyn Bennett Suffers from Substance Abuse, Using Daughter as Pawn for Cash.”
They had hired a high-priced crisis PR firm to systematically destroy my credibility so that any evidence I brought forward would look like the ramblings of a vengeful, unstable woman. They even produced a fake medical report claiming I had been treated for psychological instability in my twenties.
My phone rang. It was an unknown number. I answered it.
"Do you like the news, Evelyn?" my father’s voice came through the line, cold and venomous. "I told you I would wipe you out. By the time I’m done, no one will ever employ you, no one will ever trust you, and a judge will deem you an unfit mother. I will take Sophie, and she will be raised properly, far away from you."
"You’re a monster, Richard," I said, my teeth clenched so hard they Ached.
"I am a winner, Evelyn. And you are a footnote," he said, and hung up.
I looked at Clara, my hands shaking with rage. "They’re destroying my name. They’re trying to take Sophie."
May you like
Clara walked over, calmly taking the phone from my hand. "Let them talk, Evelyn. In the legal world, there’s a saying: 'When the law is against you, argue the facts. When the facts are against you, pound the table. When both are against you, you’ve already lost.' Your father is pounding the table. He’s desperate."
She picked up her desk phone and dialed a number. "Get me the Federal Bureau of Investigation. White Collar Crime Division. I have a whistleblower and a stack of bank records that need immediate federal warrants."
