He pushed the document away.
“I’ll speak to Dad.”
That was the last useful conversation we had about the document for weeks.
Daniel became defensive whenever I mentioned it. Arthur insisted that I was misunderstanding an ordinary business transaction. Vivian accused me of allowing my legal career to make me suspicious of everyone.
“You see criminals everywhere,” she told me during a family lunch. “Perhaps you should try being a wife instead of a prosecutor once in a while.”
I looked at Daniel, expecting him to defend me.
He kept eating.
That silence hurt more than the insult.
I eventually contacted a lawyer outside my professional chain of command to understand my options as a private citizen. I was careful not to use confidential military information, influence an investigation, or allow my professional position to interfere with the matter.
The advice was straightforward: preserve every document, avoid signing anything further, and obtain independent legal assistance.
