Chapter 9 - The Truth Behind the Adoption Paperwork
Diane’s jaw dropped. ""What are you talking about? Paige didn't do anything for you!""
Paige stepped forward then, her eyes clear and defiant. She pulled a thin silver flash drive from her pocket and held it up in the rain.
""I sent him the soil survey maps two years ago, Mom,"" Paige said, her voice cutting through the drizzle like a razor. ""I’m the one who sent Eli grandfather's original land deeds and the hydrological reports when you were trying to falsify the farm’s acreage to get that equipment loan.""
Diane lunged toward her daughter, but I stepped smoothly between them, blocking her path.
""Paige knew what you were doing,"" I said, looking down at Diane. ""And she did something else, too. She pulled the original adoption case files from the county archives when she turned eighteen.""
Diane froze. The color drained from her face so completely that she looked like a corpse.
""You thought those records were sealed forever, didn't you?"" I asked, pulling a laminated document from my briefcase. ""You told me for fifteen years that you and Dad took me out of the goodness of your hearts. You told me I was a financial burden from the day I arrived.""
I turned to Arthur, whose mouth was hanging open.
""Did you know, Dad, that my biological grandfather left a twenty-five-thousand-dollar educational trust for me when my birth parents died in that car crash? Did you know that the state of Pennsylvania paid Diane an adoption subsidy of four hundred and fifty dollars a month until I turned eighteen to cover my living expenses?""
Arthur spun around to face his wife, his face contorting in pure disbelief and horror. ""Diane... what did he say?""
""He's lying!"" she shrieked. ""He's making it up to turn you against me!""
""The state controller’s records don't lie, Arthur,"" Vance said, stepping forward from behind me. ""Mrs. Bennett collected over eighty-one thousand dollars in tax-free state subsidies specifically earmarked for Eli’s care between 2005 and 2020. In addition, she quietly liquidated his biological trust fund in 2012 to pay for the addition on your master bedroom. She didn't spend $128,000 of her own money raising Eli. Eli’s estate paid for your new roof, your kitchen remodel, and your twin daughters’ private braces.""
Arthur let out a ragged, wounded sound—a mix of a sob and a roar. He grabbed Diane by the shoulders, shaking her with a fury he had never shown in thirty years of marriage.
""You stole from a motherless child?"" Arthur bellowed, tears streaming down his weathered cheeks. ""You stole his trust, took the state's money, and then put a fake debt on his head to make him feel like an animal in our home?""
""It was for the farm!"" she screamed back, breaking away from him. ""It was for our family! He wasn't real family! He was just a boy we took in!""
Brooke backed away from her mother, staring at her in sheer disgust. ""Mom... you told us he was taking our college money. You told us he was stealing our inheritance.""
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""Shut up, Brooke!"" Diane hissed, wild-eyed and cornered. ""You don't understand what it took to keep this roof over your head!""
""The roof doesn't belong to you anymore, Diane,"" I said, motioning to the moving crew waiting by the flatbeds. ""You have thirty minutes to load your personal belongings into that truck. If you are still on this property at 12:30 PM, Deputy Kowalski will arrest you for criminal trespass and grand larceny under the pending investigation into the misuse of state guardianship funds.""
