Chapter 5 - Reclaiming the Fortress
The panic in Logan's eyes was the most satisfying thing I had ever seen.
He looked at Brenda,
then at Paige,
searching for a way out,
but they were just as trapped as he was.
"This is a setup!"
Paige shouted,
her voice high and shrill.
"That video is tampered with!"
"I am a medical professional,"
"my word carries weight!"
Sarah Vance didn't even look up from her notes.
"Speaking of your medical profession,
Paige,"
Sarah said calmly.
"We’ve already contacted the board."
"It seems you’ve been writing prescriptions for high-level sedatives"
"under Samantha's name for over a year."
"Sedatives she never received."
"Where did those pills go,
Paige?"
"Because the pharmacy records show they were picked up by Brenda."
Brenda slumped into her chair,
her face looking like crumpled parchment.
"I...
I was just trying to keep her calm,"
Brenda whimpered.
"She’s so high-strung..."
"You were drugging her so she wouldn't notice the money disappearing,"
I said,
my voice finally breaking the silence.
They all turned to look at me.
Logan tried to glare,
to use the old power he had over me,
but it was gone.
I didn't feel the old fear.
I felt disgusted.
"You stole my mother's house,"
I said,
leaning forward.
"You stole my career,"
"you stole my dignity."
"But you're never going to touch me again."
My father placed a hand on my shoulder,
a solid,
reassuring weight.
"Here are the terms,
Logan,"
my father said.
"You sign the divorce papers immediately."
"You relinquish all claims to the inherited property."
"You sign a full confession regarding the financial fraud."
"And in exchange,"
Sarah added,
"we might not ask for the maximum sentence on the kidnapping charge."
Logan let out a shaky breath.
"You can't do this."
"I have lawyers too."
"Your lawyers are currently being served with subpoenas,"
Sarah replied.
"By the time they finish reading the evidence,"
"they’ll be dropping you as a client to save their own reputations."
"The house is already being guarded by a private security firm,"
my father added.
"Your clothes and Brenda’s belongings will be delivered to a hotel."
"You are never to step foot on that property again."
Logan looked at the papers on the table.
The pen was sitting there,
waiting for him.
He looked at the video still playing on the tablet,
the loop of his own violence staring back at him.
"If I sign,"
he whispered,
"does this go away?"
"No,"
my father said.
"Justice doesn't go away."
"But the pain you’ve caused my daughter ends today."
Logan's hand shook as he reached for the pen.
He signed his name,
the ink looking like a trail of blood on the white paper.
Brenda started to cry,
a pathetic,
hollow sound.
Paige just stared at the wall,
her career and her life dissolving in the sterile air of the office.
They were no longer the rulers of Palm Shores.
May you like
They were just small,
broken people who had made the mistake of targeting a Miller.
