Chapter 10 - The Subpoena
By the end of the week, the reality of the lawsuit had fully decimated my family's illusion of invulnerability.
Robert Cole kept me updated on every development. The court had granted the emergency injunction, freezing the estate trust indefinitely. Furthermore, because Dr. Erica Vance’s medical documentation was bulletproof, the judge presiding over the case had refused the defense's motion for dismissal, setting a mandatory pre-trial deposition date for early February.
Tiffany’s high-society friends had completely abandoned her. Once the news leaked through local legal circles that the prominent socialite and her mother were facing a landmark lawsuit for medical discrimination against a disabled child, the fallout was swift. Tiffany was quietly removed from every charity board, country club committee, and volunteer organization she belonged to.
Marcus called me privately on Saturday night to give me an update on the home front.
"The house is like a war zone, Natalie," Marcus whispered into the phone, speaking from his parked car outside a grocery store. "Tiffany hasn't stopped crying for three days, and your father is sitting in his study staring at the wall like a ghost. Sterling told them straight up: if this goes to trial, they are going to lose, and not just financially. The public record will destroy their standing in the community permanently."
"Do they understand why?" I asked quietly.
"Your father is starting to," Marcus sighed. "He asked me today if I thought you would ever speak to him again. I told him the truth: not unless he humbles himself and makes a genuine, unconditional apology to Grace."
"Will he?"
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"Knowing Arthur Vance?" Marcus gave a dry, humorless chuckle. "That’s harder for him than climbing Mount Everest. But watching his empire crumble under a real legal challenge is breaking his stubbornness piece by piece."
"Well," I said, looking across the living room where Grace was curled up on the sofa reading a fantasy novel, her wheelchair parked neatly beside her, ready if she needed it. "The ball is in their court. We aren't backing down, Marcus."
