Chapter 29 - The photo in the drawer and the unedited video
At exactly three o'clock in the afternoon, Sarah walked into the corner café on Elm Street. The aroma of cinnamon toast and espresso wafted through the cozy space, a stark contrast to Chloe's pale, anxious face as she sat at the table furthest back, against the glass wall.
When Chloe saw Sarah and a plainclothes bodyguard sent by Marcus (sitting two tables away), she flinched slightly but then breathed a sigh of relief. This was the girl who had once nonchalantly stood in the middle of the lawn with her phone, filming her cousin being humiliated and assaulted. She now looks haggard, with dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep.
Sarah pulled up a chair and sat down, without ordering a drink or exchanging pleasantries. "You have ten minutes, Chloe. Bring out what you're talking about."
Chloe bit her lip, her hands clasped tightly together on the wooden table. "Sarah... I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. About what happened at the barbecue, and the family gathering that followed... I was just following what Uncle Robert and Daniel told me to do. Uncle threatened me if I didn't cut the video the way he wanted and submit it to the hearing room, he'll fire my dad from his company and cut off my college tuition."
"An apology when the ship is sinking doesn't mean much, Chloe," Sarah replied, her voice not rising but enough to send chills down the other woman's spine. "But the truth does. What do you have with you?"
Chloe hurriedly opened her handbag, pulling out a black portable hard drive and a faded, yellowed kraft paper envelope—the same one that had once been hidden along with the photograph in her grandfather's desk drawer.
"During the previous hearing, Daniel's lawyer released a thirty-second video showing her breaking a lemonade pitcher and knocking over a chair, in an attempt to falsely accuse her of losing control," Chloe said quickly, her voice trembling. "But my phone had been on continuous recording for ten minutes already. This hard drive contains everything that the edited video couldn't show."
Sarah plugged the hard drive into her tablet. The screen lit up.
The original video footage appeared in high definition. The camera angle showed Chloe standing directly behind Daniel, and the woman with her arms crossed. The sound in the video is crystal clear: before Sarah dropped the lemonade pitcher, Daniel deliberately tripped her under the table and whispered threats, forcing her to sign the share transfer papers the following morning. When she resisted and stepped back, Daniel swung his hand and slapped her hard on the left cheek, causing the lemonade pitcher to shatter. Then he immediately clenched his fists and shouted loudly, blaming her for the mistake in front of the whole family.
Furthermore, the end of the video shows a scene in a hidden corner next to the barbecue grill right after Sarah drives away. Daniel and Uncle Robert exchanged knowing smiles, discussing using family pressure to force her into a psychiatric hospital or to sign a power of attorney for all her assets within thirty days.
Sarah turned off her tablet screen. Even though she had experienced that moment, seeing the whole naked truth through an objective lens still sent shivers down her spine. She opened the yellow envelope. Inside was an old photograph of her and her grandfather, kept in a drawer years ago. Behind the photograph was a handwritten appendix to her grandfather's will, bearing his signature and fingerprint, along with the letter he had intended to slip through her bedroom door before he died.
In the letter, her grandfather clearly stated: "If there is any dispute or coercion from Robert or Daniel against Sarah, all business shares that I temporarily entrusted to Robert will be unconditionally reclaimed and transferred 100% to charity and to Sarah herself."
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"Why did you give this to me?" Sarah looked up at Chloe.
"Because last night, Daniel came to my house looking for this hard drive," Chloe sobbed, tears streaming down her cheeks. "He turned into a monster, Sarah. He smashed my computer and said that if he didn't find the original, he would make both of us pay the price. Be careful... he's completely lost his mind."
