PART 9
The next morning an advocate spoke with Emily about safety planning and
available legal resources.
I listened only when Emily wanted me there.
She was twenty-eight.
Injured did not mean incapable.
I had commanded hundreds of soldiers.
That gave me no right to command my daughter’s recovery.
Emily chose to request legal protection and speak with an attorney.
She chose not to return to the Prescott home.
She chose to have police accompany the retrieval of essential belongings
later if appropriate arrangements could be made.
Every choice returned something Ethan had tried to take.
Control.
PART 10
By noon, the Prescott family had hired a prominent attorney.
That was their right.
Their lawyer issued a short statement denying wrongdoing and describing
the incident as a “private marital dispute followed by an accidental
fall.”
I read it once.
Then I put my phone away.
Emily’s attorney, Rachel Kim, warned us not to fight the case online.
“No posts. No interviews. No responding to friends who think they know
what happened.”
Emily nodded.
I agreed.
Truth did not become stronger because it was posted first.
PART 11
The hospital’s security department preserved footage from the
emergency-room corridor after receiving the appropriate request.
The recording did not show what happened at the estate.
It showed what happened afterward.
Margaret telling a nurse:
“She tripped outside. Ethan wasn’t even near her.”
Minutes later, another camera recorded Brandon saying to Ethan:
“You should’ve kept her at the house until she calmed down.”
The words were not a confession.
Context would matter.
But they were preserved.
That was the point.
