Chapter 10 - The Trial Before the Trial
Victoria's legal strategy changed immediately.
She stopped denying the confrontation.
Instead she claimed Mark had attacked her.
Her attorney presented photographs of the broken bookcase and the injury on her head.
They argued that Victoria had locked Lily behind the barrier only to "protect her from escalating conflict."
Nobody in the courtroom believed the phrasing.
But legal cases were not decided by instinct.
They were decided by evidence.
Mark's lawyers warned him.
"If that hammer had come down, everything would be different."
Mark looked at Claire.
"I know."
Claire squeezed his hand.
"You stopped."
"Because Lily called me."
"Because you're her father."
Victoria appeared at the preliminary hearing wearing a conservative gray suit.
No diamonds.
No arrogance.
She looked fragile.
Calculatedly fragile.
The prosecutor presented Claire's testimony.
Lily's statements.
The hidden archive.
The security interference.
The financial records.
The recordings.
Victoria's attorney attacked everything.
Claire was biased.
Lily was a child.
Robert's recordings lacked context.
Charles was a criminal fugitive.
Then prosecutors produced the greenhouse evidence.
The defense asked for a recess.
Victoria looked at Mark.
For the first time since her arrest, he saw fear again.
During the break, Victoria requested to speak with Mark.
He refused.
She requested Claire.
Claire refused.
Then she requested Lily.
Mark stood so quickly his chair struck the wall.
"Absolutely not."
Victoria's attorney approached.
"She says she wants to apologize."
"She can apologize from prison."
The attorney walked away.
That evening, Mark, Claire, and Lily returned to Rachel's house rather than the mansion.
Nobody wanted to sleep there.
At dinner, Lily barely touched her food.
Claire noticed.
"What's wrong?"
Lily whispered, "Is Grandma going to come back?"
Mark crouched beside her.
"Not to hurt you."
"But will she live at our house?"
"No."
"Ever?"
Mark looked at Claire.
Then back at Lily.
"Never."
The child relaxed slightly.
Later, after she slept, Claire stood beside the window.
"I don't want to go back."
Mark knew exactly what she meant.
"The mansion."
Claire nodded.
"Every room feels like her."
Mark looked out at Rachel's quiet yard.
"Then we sell it."
Claire turned.
"That house has been in your family for generations."
"So has pretending everything is fine when it isn't."
She studied him.
"I spent years asking you to make her leave."
"I know."
"I don't need an apology."
"You deserve one anyway."
Claire looked away.
Mark continued.
"I thought keeping the peace made me reasonable."
"It made you unavailable."
He accepted the words.
"They're both true."
Claire's expression softened.
"I don't want you punishing yourself forever."
"I'm not."
He looked at her.
"I'm changing what happens next."
Claire nodded.
That night, Mark contacted an estate broker.
He authorized preparations to sell the mansion after the investigation concluded.
But before the paperwork could begin, police called.
Charles Benton had turned himself in.
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And he had one final recording.
A recording Victoria believed had been destroyed.
