Chapter 9 - JULIA
Julia Bennett lived in Denver.
Sarah found her in three hours.
She refused to talk at first.
Then we told her the dispute involved Lily.
She agreed to a video call.
Daniel was not allowed in the room.
That was my decision.
Julia appeared on-screen.
Thirty-two.
Dark hair.
Nervous eyes.
“I never had an affair with Daniel.”
She said immediately.
I believed her.
Not because I trusted her.
Because relief appeared when she said it.
“Then why did Margaret pay you?”
Julia looked down.
“To say I did.”
My stomach tightened.
“Why?”
“She wanted something she could use against you.”
“Did Daniel know?”
“No.”
“Did you take the money?”
“Yes.”
Julia’s face reddened.
“My mother was sick.”
“I needed it.”
“What did Margaret ask you to do?”
“Nothing publicly.”
“Not then.”
“She had me sign a statement saying Daniel and I had been intimate.”
My hands went cold.
“That’s why she called Lily a cheater’s kid.”
Julia frowned.
“What?”
I explained.
Her face changed.
“No.”
She shook her head.
“She never said anything about a child.”
The statement claimed Daniel had admitted doubts about Lily’s paternity during their supposed affair.
Margaret had built layers.
Fake DNA.
Fake affair.
Old fertility records.
One lie supported another.
If I challenged the test, Margaret could claim Daniel himself had doubted me.
If I attacked Margaret, she could release the Julia statement and create a public marriage scandal.
If Daniel resisted, she could threaten his reputation.
Every person got a different cage.
Lily got the cruelest one because she could not understand it.
Julia agreed to provide the original payment records and statement.
Then she said.
“Margaret contacted me yesterday.”
Sarah leaned forward.
“What did she want?”
“She offered me two hundred thousand dollars.”
“For what?”
“To say you bribed me to change my story.”
I laughed.
Margaret was still building lies faster than we could expose old ones.
“Did you accept?”
“No.”
Julia hesitated.
“But I recorded her.”
She played the call.
Margaret’s voice was unmistakable.
Claire has a DNA test.
We need the Julia issue ready before Monday.
Julia asked.
What happens if the new test is valid?
Margaret answered.
Then we make sure nobody trusts the mother.
I closed my eyes.
Not nobody trusts the report.
Nobody trusts the mother.
That had always been Margaret’s strategy.
Not evidence.
Character assassination.
Sarah saved the recording.
Then my phone buzzed.
A message from Daniel.
POLICE ARE AT MOM’S HOUSE.
I called him.
“What happened?”
His voice was tense.
“Mom reported you.”
“For what?”
“Assault.”
The slap.
May you like
Of course.
Margaret had decided if she could not destroy my evidence, she would destroy my credibility.
