114.For years, I kept two massive secrets locked away from my own family.

Three weeks passed.

The spring flowers in Westchester bloomed with vibrant colors, completely indifferent to the destruction of the Vance family name.

At our quiet, sun-drenched home in Chappaqua, Lily was finally healing. The cast on her leg had been downsized to a lighter, walking-boot model, though she still relied on a pair of bright pink aluminum crutches to navigate the house.

Every afternoon, Dr. Elena Rostova, a renowned pediatric physical therapist, worked with Lily in our living room. I sat nearby on the sofa, working through federal case briefs on my laptop, always within arm's reach of my daughter.

"Look, Mommy!" Lily beamed, carefully swinging her leg forward and planting her foot flat on the carpet without wincing. "Zero pain! Dr. Elena said I can start pool therapy next week!"

"You are doing incredible, sweet girl," I smiled, walking over to kiss her cheek. "One step at a time."

"Will I be able to run at field day in June?" she asked, her eyes full of hope.

"If anyone can do it, my little warrior can," I assured her.

Just then, the doorbell rang. Marcus Cole stood on the front porch, holding a brown paper grocery bag from the local bakery and a thick legal dossier under his arm.

"Brought fresh blueberry scones for the champion," Marcus said with a warm grin, handing the bakery box to Lily.

"Thank you, Uncle Marcus!" Lily cheered, balancing on her crutches as she happily made her way toward the kitchen.

Marcus walked into my study, his smile fading into a serious, professional expression. He dropped the dossier onto my mahogany desk.

"The walls are completely caving in on Ethan and Karen," Marcus said, pulling out a chair across from me. "Karen’s defense team completely fell apart yesterday."

"What happened?" I asked.

"Arthur Pendelton formally withdrew as counsel of record for both defendants," Marcus explained, leaning back. "Apparently, Evelyn hasn't paid his retainer invoice. The checks bounced. The Scarsdale estate was officially served with a notice of default by JPMorgan Chase two days ago. Evelyn is facing foreclosure on the house, and the bank froze her credit cards."

I shook my head, feeling no pity. "Live by the illusion, die by the illusion. What about Ethan’s bail?"

"Nobody could post it. Ethan has spent the last twenty-one days in protective custody at the Westchester County jail. And according to my contacts inside, he’s cracking. He isn't the arrogant Harvard Law editor anymore. He’s terrified."

Marcus tapped the dossier on the desk.

"Karen’s newly appointed public defender approached Sarah Sterling yesterday afternoon seeking a plea deal. Karen is terrified of serving five to ten years in state prison at Bedford Hills. She offered to turn state’s evidence and testify against Ethan."

I let out a cold, sharp breath. "A mother turning against her own golden child to save her own skin. Classic Karen."

"It gets worse," Marcus said, opening the folder to reveal several pages of printed emails and text messages. "In exchange for a reduced sentence of two years probation, Karen handed over Ethan’s personal laptop and backups from his Dartmouth undergraduate years. Diana, the kid has been a serial criminal for six years."

I scanned the documents. My stomach turned with disgust.

"Academic fraud?" I asked.

"Worse. Ethan didn't write his own senior thesis at Dartmouth. He paid an overseas essay mill twelve thousand dollars to draft it, and when a junior teaching assistant threatened to report him, Ethan and Evelyn used their connections to have the girl’s scholarship threatened until she backed down. Furthermore, during his first year at Harvard, Ethan was caught stealing an exam outline from a blind student’s locker. The family made a fifty-thousand-dollar 'donation' to a departmental library fund to make the disciplinary inquiry vanish."

"Does Harvard know about this?" I asked.

"Sarah Sterling sent the full forensic report to the Harvard Board of Overseers yesterday at noon," Marcus replied. "At 4:00 PM, the Harvard Corporation voted unanimously to officially **expel** Ethan Vance from Harvard University. His academic credits have been revoked due to honor violations dating back to his admissions application. He doesn't even have a bachelor’s degree anymore."

I closed the file and leaned back in my chair, staring out the window at the blooming dogwood trees in my front yard.

"He wanted to be untouchable," I murmured. "He thought the world existed solely to cater to his vanity."

"And now he’s a convicted felon in the making with zero degrees, zero money, and zero friends," Marcus said quietly. "Sarah Sterling rejected Karen’s plea offer, by the way."

I looked at him, surprised. "She did?"

"Sarah told Karen's lawyer that given the video evidence, the state doesn't need Karen's testimony to put Ethan away. The video proves the entire case. Sarah offered both of them a package deal: Ethan pleads guilty to Assault Two and gets four years in state prison. Karen pleads guilty to Assault Three and Child Endangerment and gets eighteen months in county jail. If they refuse, Sarah is taking both of them to trial next month and asking for the statutory maximum."

"And what did they say?"

"Ethan threw a chair across the consultation room and screamed that his mother betrayed him. Karen collapsed into a panic attack and had to be taken to the jail infirmary." Marcus paused, looking at me with deep respect. "They’re going to trial, Diana. And it’s going to be brutal."