Chapter 5 - The System Fights Back
If I thought Grant and his mother would surrender quietly, I was dead wrong.
By the second week of my hospital stay, Evelyn Holloway launched a vicious smear campaign. Using her connections in local social circles and military family groups, she began leaking fake stories to online blogs and local military tabloids.
She claimed that Colonel Mercer was using his high military rank to framed an innocent junior officer. She alleged that I was suffering from severe pregnancy psychosis and that the bruises on my body were self-inflicted during emotional breakdowns.
One evening, as I sat in my hospital room watching the local news, a segment aired showing Evelyn standing outside the courthouse with a defense lawyer, wiping away fake tears in front of news cameras.
"My son is a decorated officer and a loving husband!" Evelyn sobbed to the reporter. "Claire Mercer has been mentally unstable for months! Her father is abusing his military power to destroy my son's career because he never approved of our family! We are demanding an immediate civilian investigation!"
I grabbed the TV remote and turned it off, my hands shaking uncontrollably.
The door to my room opened, and my father walked in, accompanied by Major Vance. Dad saw my pale face and the dark TV screen and instantly knew what I had just seen.
"Ignore her, Claire," Dad said sternly, walking over to turn off the power strip at the wall. "It's a desperate play by a woman who knows her son is going down."
"Dad, people are commenting online," I whispered, holding my tablet. "They're calling me a liar. They're saying you forced CID to arrest Grant!"
"Let them talk," Major Vance said calmly, taking a seat beside my bed. "Media spin doesn't hold up in a court-martial, Claire. And Evelyn's little public circus just sealed her own fate."
I looked at Major Vance, puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"Evelyn Holloway thought she was being clever by going to the press," Major Vance revealed with a sharp grin. "So CID obtained a warrant for her personal phone records to check for collusion. Do you know what they found?"
"What?"
"Text messages between Evelyn and Grant dating back five months," Vance said. "Including text messages where Grant sent his mother photos of your bruises, asking her what foundation makeup brand would best hide them before unit dinners. And text messages where Evelyn recommended specific herbal sedatives to slip into your tea to keep you compliant."
I gasped, covering my mouth with my hands. "She... she helped him choose the makeup?"
"It's all on paper, Claire," Major Vance said. "Evelyn Holloway isn't just a witness anymore. State prosecutors have officially indicted her as an co-conspirator to felony domestic assault and dangerous drugging. A warrant for her arrest was executed thirty minutes ago."
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I looked at my father. He stood near the window, his shoulders straight, his hands clasped behind his back like a commander watching an enemy line collapse.
"They thought they could break you because you were isolated, Claire," Dad said softly, turning to look at me. "They forgot who raised you."
