Chapter 12 - DANIEL BENNETT
The press discovered Daniel's identity before we left the courthouse.
Daniel Bennett.
Founder of Bennett Meridian Group.
Investor.
Private aviation owner.
Real estate developer.
Estimated net worth in the billions.
The headlines changed instantly.
PREGNANT WOMAN PRESUMED DEAD RETURNS ALIVE.
HUSBAND CHARGED IN ROCKY MOUNTAIN MURDER PLOT.
MYSTERY BILLIONAIRE IDENTIFIED AS SURVIVOR'S BIOLOGICAL FATHER.
I hated the attention.
Michael loved attention until it turned against him.
His attorney released a statement claiming I had suffered severe trauma and could not reliably remember the accident.
That lasted six hours.
Then prosecutors released the existence of the vehicle recording.
Not the recording itself.
Just enough.
Michael's attorney stopped calling it an accident.
He started calling it a misunderstanding.
Three days later, Michael tried another strategy.
He demanded parental rights to James.
I was sitting in Daniel's home when Rebecca told me.
I laughed because I thought she was joking.
She wasn't.
"He wants visitation?"
"He claims that regardless of criminal allegations, he is James's biological father."
My hands went cold.
Daniel stood immediately.
"Absolutely not."
Rebecca raised a hand.
"He isn't getting visitation."
"He tried to kill him."
"Exactly."
Michael's petition was legal desperation.
His lawyers wanted to humanize him.
They wanted photographs of Michael grieving for his newborn son.
They wanted jurors to see a father.
Not a killer.
We answered with medical evidence.
Fetal distress caused by maternal trauma.
Emergency delivery.
Hypothermia.
Placental complications.
A doctor testified during the emergency custody hearing that the fall could easily have killed James.
The judge denied Michael every request.
He was prohibited from contacting me.
Prohibited from contacting James.
Prohibited from using third parties to communicate.
Michael looked furious on the courtroom video feed.
Good.
Later that evening, Daniel showed me the room he had prepared for James.
It overlooked a quiet garden.
There was a crib.
A rocking chair.
Shelves filled with children's books.
I touched one wooden toy airplane.
"You bought all this in a week?"
Daniel looked embarrassed.
"I may have overreacted."
I smiled for the first time in days.
Then I noticed a framed photograph on the shelf.
My mother.
Young.
Laughing.
The same photograph.
But beside it was another image.
Daniel and Laura standing near a lake.
His arm around her waist.
"She loved you."
Daniel stared at the picture.
"I loved her."
"Did you ever marry?"
"No."
"Because of her?"
He thought before answering.
"Partly."
I felt sadness for the life none of us had.
Then Daniel said something surprising.
"Your mother once wanted to name you Grace."
"Really?"
"She said if we ever had a daughter."
I looked into James's crib.
"My middle name is Grace."
Daniel closed his eyes.
Laura had kept more of him than either of us knew.
Then Rebecca called.
"We have a problem."
Michael had requested a private meeting with prosecutors.
He wanted to make a deal.
May you like
And what he offered had nothing to do with Ashley.
It was about Daniel.
