Chapter 7 - The Bribe
I stood frozen in Vanessa’s empty side yard, clutching the phone tightly against my ear.
"Read that back to me, Marcus, because what you just said is physically impossible," I demanded in a hushed, frantic voice.
"The digital file shows a woman matching your exact description standing behind Gerald holding a weapon," Marcus repeated firmly.
My mind raced through the chaotic memories of the kitchen, desperately trying to understand what he was seeing.
"I never touched a belt, Marcus, I was standing completely across the room when he hit her," I argued frantically.
"I know you didn't, Rebecca," Marcus sighed heavily into the receiver.
"The metadata on this video file has been completely scrubbed and replaced," he explained.
"Someone hired a highly skilled digital forensics expert to alter the footage before uploading it back to the cloud."
The realization hit me with the force of a speeding freight train.
Travis didn't smash the camera to destroy the evidence; he smashed it so I couldn't pull the original SD card.
He wanted me to find the altered cloud footage, which now perfectly corroborated my mother's horrific lie.
"Do not send that video to the police, Marcus, it is a brilliantly executed trap," I ordered sharply.
I hung up the phone and leaned against the cold siding of my sister’s abandoned house.
My family had effectively neutralized the physical evidence, bribed the witnesses, and corrupted the local judge.
I was completely out of conventional legal options.
My phone buzzed again, this time displaying a text message from an unknown number.
"Meet me at the Oak Room Diner in twenty minutes. Come alone," the message read.
I knew immediately it was Patricia; the Oak Room was an upscale diner she practically owned in the next town over.
I drove to the diner, my hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly my knuckles turned completely white.
I walked into the dimly lit, expensive restaurant and saw my mother sitting in a private corner booth.
She was sipping a glass of expensive red wine, looking as though she had just come from a casual spa day.
I slid into the booth across from her, refusing to break eye contact.
"You look absolutely exhausted, Rebecca," Patricia noted with a condescending, pitying smile.
"Drop the fake concern, Mother, and tell me what you want," I snapped, entirely out of patience.
Patricia sighed and reached into her designer handbag, pulling out a thick, legal-sized envelope.
She slid the heavy envelope across the polished wooden table.
"Your father and I are willing to establish a ten-million-dollar irrevocable trust fund exclusively for Lily," Patricia offered smoothly.
I stared at the envelope, utterly disgusted by her attempt to put a price tag on my daughter's skull.
"All you have to do is sign a statement admitting that Lily’s injury was a tragic accident caused by your husband's negligence," she continued.
"You want me to frame James and let Gerald walk away completely free?" I asked, my voice dripping with venom.
"James is a volatile man with a criminal record, Rebecca, he is not suited for our social circle anyway," Patricia sneered.
"I will never betray my husband, and I will never let that monster near my child again," I stated firmly.
I pushed the envelope back across the table, rejecting her blood money without a second thought.
Patricia’s pleasant smile instantly vanished, replaced by a cold, reptilian glare.
"I was trying to give you a graceful exit, Rebecca, but you have always been ridiculously stubborn," Patricia hissed.
She reached into her bag a second time and pulled out a single, glossy photograph.
She slammed the photo face-up onto the table right in front of me.
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It was a picture of the local district attorney—my former boss—accepting a thick briefcase from my brother Travis in a dark parking garage.
"The district attorney is officially dropping all charges against your father tomorrow morning due to a lack of credible evidence," Patricia announced.
