He Won The Case, He Lost His Family Chapter 06

He Won The Case, He Lost His Family Chapter 06

An argument woke me in another hospital room. Graham was speaking sharply into his phone, but when he saw my eyes open, he ended the call.

“Don’t sit up yet,” he said. “The doctor said you were severely run-down and needed rest.”

“Where is Tessa?” I asked.

“I had a terrible dream. I dreamed I lost her forever.”

Graham opened his mouth, but no sound came.

The image of the pavement returned in one blinding flash. I seized the water cup beside my bed and

threw it at him.

“Get out! You killed her.

“I never want to see you again.”

The cup struck his forehead, and blood ran down his cheek to the collar of his shirt.

The man who guarded his dignity more fiercely than anything did not become angry.

He simply backed out and closed the door with extraordinary care.

I stared at the ceiling. Whatever had once been alive inside me had died with Tessa.

Her body was cremated three days later, and news of her death spread across the internet.

The same people who had treated her pain as entertainment now turned her into a tragedy for their

feeds.

An attorney from another state contacted me.

Rebecca Sloan specialized in civil-rights and digital-abuse cases, and she believed the new allegations could persuade the district attorney to open a criminal investigation.

I sold the condo I had owned before my marriage and emptied my savings.

“That money was supposed to be Tessa’s future,” I told Rebecca. “Graduate school, a first home,

whatever life she chose.”

“She’ll never need it now. The only reason I’m still alive is to get justice for her.”

“Everyone who hurt my daughter would answer for it.”

Rebecca rested a hand on my shoulder. “I’ll do everything the law allows.”

We interviewed Tessa’s classmates, teachers, neighbors, and friends.

We requested school records, preserved online posts, and searched for footage the first lawyers had never obtained.

Meanwhile, Graham’s behavior changed. The endless client calls and late-night meetings seemed

to vanish.

He appeared near me without warning, then stood in silence as if he had forgotten why he came. Sometimes Sienna called repeatedly and he let the phone ring.

He spent hours staring through windows.

When I returned to the house to collect clothes, I found him in front of the living-room glass,

watching leaves fall from the maple in our yard.

Without warning, he began to cry.

“Tessa and I planted that tree together,” he said.

Our daughter had died, and he had stood at a distance. Now he expected a tree to prove he had loved

her.

“Don’t romanticize this,” I said. “If you cared about Tessa, help put the people who destroyed her

behind bars.”

The bathroom door opened before he could respond. Sienna walked out, wearing one of his shirts,

and gave him a look of tender concern.

“Laurel, that’s unfair,” she said. “Graham has been devastated since Tessa died.”

“He hasn’t slept properly. He sees a therapist almost every day.”

She moved closer to him. “He cares deeply.

“He simply isn’t expressive, and after twenty years, you should understand that.”

The woman who had confessed to destroying evidence stood in my home and asked me to

understand the man who helped drive my daughter to her death.

I laughed once, without humor.

“How did you know whether he slept unless the two of you shared a bed?”

I turned fully toward her. “Would you repeat what you told me on the courthouse steps while Graham was listening?”

Sienna’s eyes reddened at once.

“I don’t know what you mean. Graham and I are only friends.”

“I said cruel things because I was angry. Angry words aren’t evidence, and grief doesn’t give you permission to attack me.”

Then she offered a sympathetic smile so grotesque I could hardly believe it.

“Graham has done so much for Derek and me. If you’re lonely, Derek could think of you as a second

mother. He’ll care for you the way Tessa would have.”

My entire body shook. Rebecca had warned me never to touch Sienna again, and that warning was

the only thing that kept my hands at my sides.

Graham, however, was no longer looking at me. His attention had fixed on Sienna.

“You still hadn’t answered my question,” he said. “Where exactly were you and Derek on the night

Tessa fell?”

The sudden challenge startled her, but she recovered quickly.

“I went to pick him up. He slipped out to a bar with some friends, and I was afraid he would get into

trouble.”

“Anything I asked you afterward was only curiosity. I never meant it seriously.”

When Graham’s expression did not soften, she let her mouth tremble.

“You don’t believe me? After all the years we’ve known each other, you still doubt what kind of person I am?”

In the past, one tear from Sienna had been enough to erase Graham’s judgment. This time, he

watched her with a cold, unwavering stare.

“I subpoenaed security footage from every bar Derek was known to visit,” he said. “He appeared in

none of it.”

“But a traffic camera recorded you near Briarhaven Academy minutes after Tessa fell.”

Sienna’s face turned white.