Chapter 8 - Desperate Venom
Driven to absolute desperation and facing total ruin, Deborah and Richard refused to go down quietly. Released on bail raised by liquidating their life savings, they hired a sleazy, tabloid-chasing defense lawyer to counter-attack.
Two days later, Deborah held a press conference outside the courthouse, clutching her daughter Chloe and putting on a masterclass in crocodile tears for the local news cameras.
"My son is an innocent man!" Deborah wailed to the microphones. "Sarah Vance is a ruthless billionaire heiress who tricked my poor, hardworking son! She staged that whole gruesome crime scene to frame us and steal his children away! She is an unfit, mentally unstable mother who played with blood just to ruin a family!"
The news clip went viral instantly, accumulating millions of views. Online trolls began swarming my social media accounts, accusing me of abusing the legal system and faking a trauma scene for revenge.
My lead attorney called me that evening. "Miss Vance, public opinion is getting messy. The defense is demanding a full psychological evaluation and attempting to dismiss the criminal charges based on 'staged evidence horror'."
May you like
I sat in my penthouse nursery, gently rocking Arthur while Leo slept peacefully in his crib. I looked down at my phone, watching Deborah's smug face on the news television screen, claiming she was the true victim.
"Let them talk," I told my attorney calmly. "They think they're playing a media game. They don't realize we haven't even revealed the toxicology reports yet."
