Chapter 8 - The Fall of Lauren Hayes
While Eric sat in a federal holding cell awaiting arraignment on grand theft and wire fraud charges, Lauren Hayes was fighting for her professional survival.
Because she had participated in the burglary of my home while out on bail, her bond was officially revoked. She was held in the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood.
On Thursday morning, Maya received a phone call from Lauren’s private defense counsel. They were begging for a plea bargain meeting.
I met Lauren in a small, sterile attorney-client visitor room at the detention center. Lauren wore an orange jumpsuit, her dark hair greasy and unwashed, her wrists chained to a metal belt around her waist. The arrogant, icy woman who had worn fake scrubs in the hospital pickup lane was completely gone.
She sat across from me, her eyes red-rimmed from crying.
“Natalie,” Lauren wept, her voice cracked. “Please. You have to tell the DA to drop the burglary charges. I was just doing what Eric told me to do! He manipulated me!”
I sat down calmly, folding my hands on the metal table. “You dressed up in fake scrubs to steal my four-day-old baby, Lauren. You stood in my bedroom and told me I was going to spend five years broke.”
“He lied to me!” Lauren sobbed, leaning forward as far as her chains allowed. “He told me you were abusive! He told me you were going to take the baby and leave the country! He said the money in the trust was legally his!”
“You registered a shell company with him eleven months ago,” I reminded her coldly. “You signed the purchase documents for the Malibu house. You knew exactly what you were doing.”
Maya pulled out a single sheet of paper, placing it on the table in front of Lauren.
“This is a cooperation agreement,” Maya said. “The District Attorney is willing to reduce your sentence on the abduction and burglary charges to five years probation—on one condition.”
Lauren looked at the paper like it was a lifeline. “What condition?”
“You testify fully and completely against Eric Brooks in his federal wire fraud and embezzlement trial,” Maya said. “You turn over every text message, every email, every financial record, and every recorded phone call between you and Eric over the past two years.”
Lauren didn't even read the full document. She grabbed the pen with her trembling, chained hands and signed her name at the bottom of every page.
“He told me he loved me,” Lauren whispered, tears falling onto the paper. “He said we were going to be a family.”
I stood up from the table, looking down at her with a mix of pity and absolute detachment.
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“Eric doesn't love anyone, Lauren,” I said softly. “He uses people until they aren't useful anymore. You were just his accomplice. And now, you’re his state’s witness.”
I walked out of the visitor room, leaving Lauren sobbing quietly into her orange sleeves.
