Chapter 4 - The War of Public Opinion
By the next morning, Catherine Vance was determined not to go down without a fight.
Using her long-standing connections with the local media and high-society circles, Catherine organized an exclusive interview with The Sedona Daily, painting herself as a victim of a "cold, calculating daughter-in-law who exploited a vulnerable senior citizen."
The front page article featured a tragic photo of Catherine sitting in a rented hotel room, clutching a handkerchief, with the headline: "BETRAYED AT 65: PROMINENT LOCAL PHILANTHROPIST EVICTED FROM FAMILY HOME BY DAUGHTER-IN-LAW."
In the article, Catherine claimed that Elise was mentally unstable, had intentionally destroyed her birthday celebration out of spite, and was using a "fraudulent legal loop-hole" to steal Gregory’s hard-earned estate.
Elise sat in Naomi’s downtown law office, staring at the newspaper on the glass table. Piper was pacing back and forth, holding two cups of black coffee.
"She's completely delusional!" Piper fumed. "The entire town is talking about it! Some of Catherine's country club friends are posting on social media, calling for a boycott of your grandmother's old charity foundation!"
Elise looked down at her hands. Her cut finger from the broken glass was neatly bandaged. The old fear—the quiet, timid voice that Gregory had spent seven years installing in her mind—tried to creep back in.
“You ruin everything you touch.”
“You should be grateful I took you in.”
Elise closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them again. The fear was gone. In its place was a sharp, unyielding flame.
"Let her talk," Elise said softly.
Naomi looked up from her desk, a slow, approving smile spreading across her lips. "That is precisely the right answer, Elise. Never interrupt an enemy when she is making a fatal mistake."
"What do you mean?" Piper asked.
Naomi turned her computer monitor toward them. "Catherine gave a recorded interview to three separate news channels this morning. In all three recordings, she swore under oath that she personally funded the purchase of 412 Maplewood Lane in 2014, and that Elise never contributed a single penny."
"Which is a direct lie," Elise said.
"Not just a lie—it's perjury in a active civil dispute," Naomi corrected. "Because two hours ago, I submitted our certified bank records, Margaret Thorne's trust documents, and the intercepted offshore wire logs directly to the District Attorney's office. The prosecutor just signed an indictment for public defamation, grand larceny, and corporate embezzlement against both Catherine and Gregory Vance."
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"When is the hearing?" Elise asked, standing up straight.
"Tomorrow morning at 10:00 AM," Naomi replied. "And we are going to invite every single reporter who printed Catherine's story to sit in the front row."
