Chapter 4 - The Counter-Attack
Settlement offers began pouring into Vance’s office by the next morning.
They offered $500,000. Then $1 million. Then $2.5 million—funded by Sibil liquidating her private investment portfolio.
I rejected every single offer without hesitation.
"Sloan," Vance advised gently during a private consultation. "$2.5 million is a massive settlement. It covers all your medical expenses, your lost wages, and gives you complete financial security. If we go to trial, there’s always a risk."
"They don't get to buy their way out of accountability with my mother's money," I replied coldly. "If I settle, they sign a non-disclosure agreement. They walk away, tell their followers it was resolved amicably, and Fallon keeps her platform. No."
"Then what is your ultimate target?" Vance asked.
"Total truth. And criminal prosecution."
Seeing that money couldn't buy me off, my mother decided to play dirty.
Two days later, a national tabloid published a hit piece on me. The headline read: "EVIL ACTUARY: SISTER SUES BRIDE FOR $5M OVER ACCIDENTAL WEDDING SPILL TO FEATHER HER OWN NEST."
The article featured anonymous quotes from "family insiders" claiming I had been jealous of Fallon since childhood, that I was an alcoholic who had been belligerent at the reception, and that Sibil was simply trying to wipe spilled gin off my face to help me.
They even printed a leaked, heavily photoshopped photo from my college years to make me look unhinged.
The internet devoured it. My personal email inbox was flooded with hate mail and death threats.
Greer rushed into my apartment that evening, furious. "It’s your mother. She paid a PR firm in Los Angeles $30,000 to run a smear campaign against you!"
"I know," I said, calmly drinking my tea.
"You're not mad?"
"An actuary doesn't get mad when a target acts predictably, Greer. They just re-calculate the risk exposure." I opened my laptop. "PR firms leave digital footprints. And paying a firm to fabricate stories while a civil lawsuit is ongoing constitutes witness intimidation and public defamation."
"What are we doing?" Greer asked, her eyes lighting up.
"We hit their bank accounts directly."
Through our legal team, we filed an emergency motion for a pre-judgment asset freeze against both Fallon and Sibil, arguing they were intentionally hiding and dissipating assets through offshore PR firms to avoid paying the pending court judgment.
The judge granted the emergency motion.
Within forty-eight hours, Fallon’s corporate bank accounts, her personal credit cards, and Sibil’s primary liquid investment accounts were completely frozen by court order pending the trial.
Fallon couldn't pay her mortgage. She couldn't pay her PR firm. She couldn't even pay her wedding videographers, who promptly turned over the remaining audio files to the District Attorney in retaliation for unpaid bills.
On Friday afternoon, my phone rang. It was Sibil.
I hadn't spoken to her directly since the night she scrubbed my burning face with a linen napkin.
"Sloan," Sibil sobbed uncontrollably into the phone. "How could you do this to your own family? My credit cards are declined! Fallon is having a nervous breakdown! Her husband is talking about leaving her!"
"You tried to erase my skin to save a video, Sibil," I said, my tone as flat as concrete. "You don't have a daughter anymore. You have a creditor."
"We are your mother and sister!" she screamed, her distress turning back into rage. "You are a cold, unfeeling sociopath!"
"No," I corrected her. "I'm an actuary. And your account is severely overdue."
I hung up the phone.
An hour later, Officer Davis called back with the news I had been waiting for.
"Sloan," Davis said. "The District Attorney just upgraded the charges based on the raw audio and the financial paper trail. We have an active felony warrant for Fallon Ward for aggravated battery with a toxic substance, and an indictment for Sibil Ward as an accessory before the fact."
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"When are you picking them up?" I asked.
"Right now," Davis replied. "And because Fallon is currently holding a sponsored live-stream event at a hotel in Midtown, it’s going to be very public."
