Chapter 7 - THE FALL OF ALANA AND ELLIE
The court’s ruling destroyed the last remnants of the Bailey family’s unity.
The moment they walked out of the courtroom into the marble hallway, the blame game turned vicious.
"You brought us into this, Parker!" Ellie shrieked, shoving her brother against the stone wall. "You told me we were going to get a cut of the country house sale! Now my name is on a court injunction! I can't even get a car loan!"
"You're the one who wouldn't stop picking on her kid!" Parker screamed back, his face turning purple with rage. "If you and Mom had just fed the damn kid a piece of chicken, Clarissa would have never checked the security feeds! You ruined my life over a twenty-dollar bucket of fried chicken!"
"Don't you talk to your sister like that!" Alana wailed, flailing her handbag at Parker. "I raised you! I helped you! You're an ungrateful, useless coward!"
Passersby stopped to watch the pathetic display as the three of them screamed at each other in the middle of the public hallway, their dignity completely gone, their greed laying them bare for the world to see.
Within forty-eight hours, the criminal indictments were officially handed down by the District Attorney.
Parker was arrested at Alana’s apartment, handcuffed in front of the entire neighborhood, and charged with three counts of Felony Bank Forgery, Corporate Fraud, and Criminal Conspiracy. Unable to post his $250,000 bail, he was remanded to the county jail to await trial.
Alana and Ellie were hit with secondary criminal indictments for Accessory to Financial Fraud and Child Endangerment.
Because of her prior clean record and age, Alana avoided prison time but was sentenced to two years of house arrest, 500 hours of mandatory community service, and a restitution order forcing her to surrender her monthly pension checks until the $15,000 she had accepted from Parker’s fraudulent account was fully repaid to Clarissa.
Ellie was ordered to perform 300 hours of community service at a local child welfare shelter—a poetic punishment forcing her to serve children in need after treating an adopted child with such heartless contempt. Her husband, horrified by her actions and her family's corruption, filed for divorce three weeks later, taking full custody of their son Mason.
Sitting in her tiny, drafty apartment under electronic ankle monitoring, Alana spent her days alone. The friends she used to brag to about her son's corporate success stopped calling. Her daughter was busy working double shifts at a retail store to pay her own legal fees. The lavish lifestyle she had tried to steal from Clarissa had ended in absolute isolation.
One evening, Alana tried calling Parker at the county jail.
When Parker’s collect call was connected, his voice was hollow, cold, and unrecognizable.
"Parker... sweetie..." Alana wept into the receiver. "How are you? I’m trying to find money for a private lawyer for you..."
"Don't call me, Mom," Parker said flatly.
"Parker, please! I’m your mother!"
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"You're the reason I'm in here," Parker said, his voice completely dead. "You taught me to treat people like tools. You taught me that money was all that mattered. You made me hate a little boy who never did anything to us. I hope you enjoy your empty house, Mom. Because you don't have a son anymore."
The line went dead. Alana dropped the receiver onto the floor, sitting alone in the dark as her tears fell onto her cold, worn carpet.
