His Lesson Killed My Mother Now He Will Pay Chapter 18
The hall was silent.
I walked up to Graham, took my mother’s death certificate from his stiff hand, and gathered the 911 records and evacuation logs from the table, placing them one by one into my folder.
“Does any of it matter now?”
Graham stared at me.
Calmly, I repeated the logic he had always favored.
“It already happened. The van was canceled. The roads were closed. She’s dead. Since none of it can be changed, there’s no point in worrying about whose fault it was. Right?”
His hand slipped from Sloane’s wrist.
“Nora, I didn’t know—”
“You knew she used a wheelchair.”
“I thought you were exaggerating.”
“You knew she got sick that night.”
“I thought you were trying to force my hand.”
“You also knew that once the roads were closed, she would never get out.”
Graham opened his mouth, but all that came out was a choked whisper. “I really didn’t know it would be like this.”
I didn’t look at him again.
Aisha handed me two legal notices. I took one and placed it in front of Sloane.
“This is a notice to preserve evidence and cease distribution. Every recording you edited, released, or planned to use in paid content comes down immediately.”
Sloane’s face was ashen. “You can’t do this over one customer service call—”
“There’s also a formal complaint,” I cut her off.
“You and Graham are both named as defendants. Damages, injunctions, every dollar you made after my mother died—I’m coming for all of it.”
Graham looked as though he hadn’t heard me. His eyes were fixed on the death certificate in my hand.
“When is the funeral?”
“That has nothing to do with you.”
“I was Elena’s emergency contact.” His voice shook. “I have the right to see her off.”
“That’s because she used to think of you as family.”
I bent down and picked up the locket he had crushed. My mother’s photo was fractured beneath the plastic. The chain was broken.
I closed my hand around it.
“She doesn’t anymore.”
Graham reached out, as if to touch the storm box beside me.
I shifted away.
Aisha stepped between us.
I picked up the box and walked toward the exit. Just before the doors swung shut, I glanced back one last time.
Graham was still standing under the lights, his face a mask of dawning horror, as if he had finally understood everything he had lost.
And at his feet, the length of broken chain he had stepped on lay ignored by everyone.