Chapter 7 - THE SMEAR CAMPAIGN
Three months later. Lily was healthy, thriving, and sleeping through the night. The trial was finally approaching.
My parents, desperate and facing total ruin, went to the media. They paid a sleazy local tabloid to run a hit piece on me. The headline read: GREEDY DAUGHTER DESTROYS SISTER'S WEDDING, FRAMES MOTHER FOR FALL.
The article painted me as an unstable, jealous sister who threw herself into a table for insurance money and forced her cop husband to make false arrests.
My bakery took a hit. A few wealthy clients canceled their orders.
"We can sue them for defamation," Julian said, pacing our living room.
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"No," I said, holding Lily in my arms. "Let them talk. Let them act smug. They are burning through their last remaining dollars to lie in the press. When the trial happens, the public record will destroy them forever."
I refused to give them a reaction. I baked my cakes, loved my husband, and kissed my daughter. I let the silence be my armor, knowing that a judge's gavel was going to be the loudest sound in the world.
