Chapter 4 - The Public Storm
Within six hours of Daniel’s press conference, our lives became a living nightmare.
Reporters camped on the sidewalk outside our suburban home. News vans blocked the driveway, their long antennas reaching into the overcast sky like vultures. Every time the blinds moved, shutter clicks erupted like hail against our windows.
Online, the story went viral with terrifying speed. A thirty-second clip recorded by one of the wedding guests had been leaked to TikTok and Facebook. In the video, Ethan was seen standing over the fallen bride, his fists bloody, breathing heavily, while Daniel screamed in the background. The caption read: *Ungrateful stepson ruins $100k wedding and puts bride in hospital.*
Comments poured in by the tens of thousands:
*Lock him up!*
*Throw the book at the mother who raised this animal!*
*He's fourteen! He could have killed her!*
"Turn it off, Claire," Marcus said, walking into the living room and firmly closing my laptop. "Social media is an echo chamber of ignorance. It does not dictate what happens in a court of law."
"The school board just called," I said, my voice shaking with unshed tears. "They’ve suspended Ethan indefinitely pending the outcome of the police investigation. They say other parents are threatening to pull their kids if Ethan steps foot on campus."
"We will handle the school later," Marcus said calmly. "Right now, we have a bond hearing tomorrow morning. The DA is filing preliminary charges of aggravated assault with severe bodily injury."
"Can they hold him?" I asked, panic constricting my throat.
"Not if we show the physical evidence on Lily," Marcus said. "I’ve submitted Dr. Chen's medical report and the photos to the prosecutor's office. But the DA is hesitant. Daniel’s attorney, Richard Sterling—one of the dirtiest fixers in the city—is pushing hard. He’s claiming Lily’s bruises were caused by Ethan during a scuffle, and that Vanessa was merely intervening to protect the girl."
"What?" I gasped, sickened to my core. "They’re claiming Ethan hurt Lily?"
"It’s a classic deflection," Marcus said. "If Vanessa didn't inflict the injuries, Ethan has no legal justification of third-party defense. Without justification, it’s straight assault."
From the doorway of the kitchen, Ethan walked in quietly. His face was pale, his dark eyes shadowed with exhaustion, but the panic from the morning had settled into something harder, colder.
"Ethan, sweetheart," I said, stepping toward him. "You should be resting."
"I have something," Ethan said.
Marcus and I looked at him.
Ethan walked over to his school backpack, which sat slung over the corner chair. He unzipped the small front pouch and reached deep into the lining. He pulled out a worn, black iPhone 8 with a spiderweb fracture across the upper corner of the glass.
"What is that?" I asked. "Daniel took your phone three weeks ago."
"He took my new phone," Ethan said softly. "This was my old one. The battery barely holds a charge for twenty minutes, and the camera lens is cracked. But before the wedding... I knew Vanessa was going to do something to Lily."
My breath caught in my throat. "Ethan... what did you do?"
May you like
"I hid it in the breast pocket of my suit," Ethan said, his hands steady as he plugged the device into a wall charger. "I hit record right before the ceremony started."
***
