Chapter 4 - The Counter-Attack
By Tuesday morning, the fallout from the wedding had hit the local news. A prominent local charity family fractured at the altar over an embezzlement scandal was too juicy for the tabloids to ignore.
Sarah Jenkins, our family attorney and a close friend, sat in our kitchen surrounded by stacks of financial ledgers.
"They're digging in," Sarah said, taking a sip of black coffee. "Linda hired Richard Sterling—yes, her ex-husband and a notoriously cutthroat defense attorney. They’re filing a countersuit claiming character defamation, emotional distress, and wrongful termination of their consulting contract."
"Let them try," I said, leaning against the counter. "We have the forensic audit."
"It's not that simple, Martin," Sarah warned. "They’re using the wig incident against us. Richard is spinning a narrative to the press that Evelyn’s 'medical condition' caused her to behave erratically at the wedding, and Vanessa was simply trying to 'adjust' a misplaced hairpiece when it accidentally came off. They're making Vanessa out to be the victim of an aggressive, overbearing father-in-law."
"They're lying!" Caleb shouted, entering the kitchen with bloodshot eyes. He hadn't slept in three days. "There were two hundred witnesses!"
"And how many of those witnesses are willing to testify in a public court against a wealthy family like the Sterlings?" Sarah questioned gently. "Most of Vanessa’s friends are already deleting their social media videos of the event. They don't want to get dragged into a legal circus."
"I have a video," a voice said from the doorway.
We turned to see Aunt Denise standing there, holding her iPad. She looked fiercely determined. "I was recording the cake-cutting sequence when it happened. I caught the whole thing, Martin. The look on Vanessa's face before she did it—it wasn't an accident. She smiled at her mother, muttered 'watch this,' and then lunged."
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Sarah’s face lit up. "Denise, that is exactly what we need. That proves intent and malice. It completely destroys their defamation narrative."
"Good," I said, a cold smile forming on my face. "Sarah, call a press conference for tomorrow morning. If they want to play this out in the court of public opinion, we'll give them a front-row seat."
