Chapter 15- RICHARD’S SECOND APOLOGY
Richard came to Maya’s office without an attorney.
He looked smaller than he had in the courthouse hallway after Brian’s sentencing. His coat hung loosely from his shoulders, and he carried a thick envelope against his chest.
“I lied to you,” he said.
I did not invite him to sit.
“About what?”
“I told you I thought your signature was real.”
“It wasn’t?”
“I knew you had refused.”
The answer landed quietly.
That made it worse.
Richard explained that Donna had told him Brian only needed temporary access to the equity in my father’s house. She promised the lien would be removed before I discovered it.
“You knew they forged my name.”
“I knew after it happened.”
“And you stayed silent.”
He nodded.
“Why?”
“Because the first investments included my retirement account. If the company collapsed, I lost everything.”
“So you let them risk my house and Lily’s identity instead.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“I was a coward.”
He placed the envelope on the table.
Inside were statements from an account Donna had kept hidden. Payments from Brian’s shell companies had continued entering it even after his arrest.
Donna had told investigators she received only small referral fees.
The statements showed more than seven hundred thousand dollars.
“Why bring this now?” Maya asked.
Richard stared at his hands.
“Donna told me she was going to get Lily. She said once the child was back inside the family, Emily would stop fighting.”
My skin went cold.
“Back inside the family?”
“She believes Lily is the only person who can keep the hidden money from being seized.”
The custodial account had placed some of the funds under Lily’s name.
Donna planned to argue that the money belonged to her granddaughter, not the victims.
May you like
She did not want Lily because she loved her.
She wanted Lily because she believed a child could become a shield between her and prison.
