Chapter 6 - The Discovery Phase
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The criminal trial was scheduled for late April. The District Attorney, sensing a high-profile victory, refused to offer Evelyn a plea deal that didn't include jail time, a concession the arrogant matriarch absolutely refused to accept.
As the trial date approached, the legal discovery phase began. Evelyn’s defense attorney, Marcus Thorne, subpoenaed everything he could get his hands on, desperate to find a shred of evidence to support the narrative that I had provoked the assault.
He requested my medical records, my financial history, and, crucially, the raw, unedited footage from the security cameras.
Derek and I sat in the DA’s office reviewing the discovery files. The prosecutor, a sharp, no-nonsense woman named Sarah Jenkins, looked highly amused.
“Thorne made a massive tactical error by requesting the unedited footage,” Jenkins laughed, tapping her pen against the desk.
“Why?” Derek asked. “It just shows exactly what happened.”
“Yes, but he also subpoenaed the footage from the two hours prior to the assault,” Jenkins explained, pulling up the video file on her monitor. “He’s hoping to catch Annette insulting your mother or behaving aggressively to support a claim of self-defense or extreme emotional provocation.”
She clicked play. The video showed the formal dining room, exactly as it was before the fight broke out.
But it wasn't the visual that mattered; it was the highly sensitive microphones Derek had installed.
“Listen to this,” Jenkins said, turning up the volume.
The video showed Derek and me out in the hallway, removing our coats shortly after we arrived. The dining room was empty except for Evelyn and Vanessa, who were arranging the centerpiece.
“She brought a store-bought pie,” Evelyn’s recorded voice sneered with absolute disgust. “She’s completely classless, Vanessa. I can't believe Derek actually married this peasant.”
“She’s dragging him down, Mom,” Vanessa’s voice agreed maliciously. “We have to get rid of her. If we push her hard enough today, maybe she’ll finally snap and leave him.”
“I plan to,” Evelyn stated coldly on the tape. “I am going to make her feel so entirely unwelcome and humiliated that she takes that bastard child and runs back to whatever trailer park she crawled out of.”
The video continued, revealing thirty minutes of premeditated, malicious intent. Evelyn hadn't just lost her temper; she had actively planned to verbally and emotionally abuse me long before we even sat down to eat.
Derek stared at the screen, his face entirely drained of color. Hearing his mother plot the destruction of his family with such callous cruelty shattered any remaining illusions he held about his family.
“They planned it,” Derek whispered, his voice trembling with a terrifying, cold rage. “They planned to break her.”
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“Exactly,” Jenkins smiled, a predatory gleam in her eye. “Thorne thought he was going to find evidence of Annette provoking Evelyn. Instead, he just handed me absolute, irrefutable proof of premeditated malice. This isn't just simple assault anymore. I’m upgrading the charges.”
I reached out and took Derek’s hand, squeezing it tightly. The trap Evelyn had set for me had just violently snapped shut on her own leg.
