Chapter 7 - THE VERSION HE SOLD THE PUBLIC
Within twenty-four hours, Jason’s attorneys released a statement describing Chelsea as a disturbed former employee who had developed an obsession with him. They claimed Jason had been attempting to calm the situation when police arrived.
The affair was denied.
The gate code was denied.
The insurance policy was called a routine business instrument.
Then Jason’s public relations team attacked me.
Anonymous sources told reporters that I had used my father’s influence to turn a domestic dispute into a major criminal investigation. Articles appeared questioning why so many officers had responded to “property damage.” Commenters accused me of receiving special treatment. One photograph showed my father holding my face in the driveway, cropped to remove the ruined car behind us.
Jason had always understood how to make context disappear.
He filed for divorce before I could, requesting temporary access to the mansion and joint decision-making authority over our unborn daughter. His lawyers described me as emotionally volatile and excessively dependent on my father.
The language felt rehearsed because it was.
Jason had been preparing to make me look unstable long before Chelsea lifted the bat.
I moved into my father’s guesthouse but refused police protection beyond what was normally provided in an active threat case. Officer Brooks remained the lead witness for the driveway response. The investigation was transferred outside my father’s chain of command. Every interview was recorded. Every decision required independent approval.
I wanted no favors.
I wanted Jason to lose without being able to say my father had pushed him.
The mansion security company initially claimed its access data had been corrupted during the incident. That statement might have ended the inquiry if Sullivan Protective Systems had fully controlled the software.
But six months earlier, Jason had been preparing the company for sale. As part of due diligence, an outside cybersecurity firm had created an independent mirror of all administrator activity.
Jason had forgotten about the mirror.
The records showed his credentials had opened the mansion gate for Chelsea eleven minutes before I arrived. The same credentials disabled the driveway cameras, suppressed the alarm, and restored the system seconds after police vehicles entered the property.
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But even that was not the revelation that destroyed him.
That came in court.
