Chapter 8 - The Confrontation in the Rose Garden
As the federal agents began escorting Richard and Evelyn toward the transport vehicles parked in the university courtyard, Evelyn violently thrashed against her restraints.
"Richard, you promised me this was legal!" Evelyn shrieked, tears ruining her expensive cosmetics as she turned on her husband like a rabid dog.
"You told me the lawyers said the girl would never survive the winter!"
"You told me that if we kept her in the hospital, the medical bills would bankrupt our social standing and ruin Alyssa's debutante season!"
"Shut up, Evelyn! Shut your mouth!" Richard roared through his teeth, struggling against the iron grip of the federal marshals.
"I did everything for this family! I built our reputation with my own bare hands!"
"You built nothing but a house of poisoned lies, Richard!" Evelyn screamed back, her voice carrying across the sunlit courtyard where hundreds of students had gathered to watch.
"You forced me to sign those custody surrender papers while I was sedated after surgery!"
"You told me that Sophia was already in hospice and that keeping her on life support was just prolonging her agony!"
"You stole her grandmother's money so you wouldn't have to sell your country club shares!"
I walked down the marble steps of the rotunda, stopping at the edge of the courtyard fountain, watching the two monsters rip each other apart in the glaring sunlight.
Hannah walked beside me, her arm gently looped through mine, her presence a steady, serene anchor amidst the chaotic storm of justice.
Richard looked over his shoulder, his bloodshot eyes locking onto me with desperate, pathetic pleading.
"Sophia... please! Tell them to drop the federal charges!" Richard begged, his knees buckling on the cobblestones.
"You have your degree now! You have the ten-million-dollar research patent!"
"You have everything you ever wanted! Why do you have to destroy your own father?"
I looked at the man who had left a twelve-year-old child to die alone in a dark room with nothing but an empty IV bag and a cold metal tray.
"I didn't destroy you, Richard," I said, my voice carrying the absolute finality of an iron gate closing forever.
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"You destroyed yourself the day you decided that money was worth more than human life."
"Take them away, Agent Miller."
