Chapter 11 - AN UNEXPECTED WITNESS
With Sterling in federal prison and Lydia facing thirty years without parole, Cassidy’s legal team filed an emergency petition for a plea deal. On Saturday morning, Julian received a priority notification from the county detention center: Cassidy was demanding to speak with me alone before entering her formal plea.
"You don't have to do this," Julian said as we walked into the private attorney-client conference room at the women’s facility. "She has no leverage. The plea deal is at the prosecutor’s discretion."
"I need to hear it from her," I replied. "Not through lawyers. Not on a witness stand."
The door buzzed open, and Cassidy was escorted in. Without her manicured persona, her hair pulled back in a tangled knot, she looked remarkably young and fragile—the little sister who used to steal my hair ribbons when we were girls.
She sat across the steel table, her head hung low.
"Meredith," she choked out, her voice barely audible.
"I heard the recording, Cassidy," I said evenly. "I heard you tell Lydia you didn't want to do it."
Cassidy flinched as if struck. Tears spilled freely down her cheeks, dripping onto her orange jumpsuit. "I was terrified of her. She’s controlled me my entire life. When Dad died, she took over every single aspect of my existence. She made me believe that without her, without the money, I was nothing."
"You threw acid at my face, Cassidy," I said, pointing to my scar. "You nearly blinded me."
"I know," she sobbed, burying her face in her handcuffed hands. "I know, and there isn't a day in prison I won't hate myself for it. I’m not asking for your forgiveness. I don't deserve it. But I asked you here because there is one more thing Lydia hid from you. Something that wasn't on the hard drive."
Julian narrowed his eyes. "What are you talking about, Cassidy?"
"Dad didn't die of a natural heart attack," Cassidy whispered, looking up with raw terror in her eyes.
May you like
The air inside the room seemed to vanish instantly.
***