Chapter 17 - CAMILLE’S DEAL
Camille sat for a proffer with prosecutors.
I was not allowed inside.
Good.
This was no longer my investigation to control.
Her account reached us later through counsel.
She admitted Adrian researched my family.
She admitted he encouraged her to become closer to me after Natalie died.
She admitted accessing my devices.
She admitted knowing the trust amendment was unauthorized.
Those admissions mattered.
Then she tried to draw the line.
According to Camille, Adrian handled every forged document.
Adrian planned every transfer.
Adrian pressured her with debts in her name.
Adrian told her Mia’s trust money would only be “borrowed.”
She claimed the physical abuse had nothing to do with the financial scheme.
She called the birthday slap “an isolated parental mistake.”
The recordings destroyed that part.
Three separate incidents contained striking sounds.
Two contained threats.
One captured Camille telling Mia:
“If you tell Daddy, he’ll think you’re bad.”
The district attorney authorized child-abuse-related charges supported by the available evidence while the larger financial investigation continued.
The process was slower and less dramatic than television.
That made it feel heavier.
Camille surrendered through her lawyer.
No chase.
No screaming.
She entered court in a gray suit.
She looked at me only once.
The judge imposed no-contact conditions regarding Mia and restrictions on financial accounts.
Camille’s cooperation request remained unresolved.
Adrian’s attorneys attacked her credibility.
They produced messages showing she sometimes pushed the scheme faster than he did.
One exchange:
Adrian:
Wait until Grant is comfortable.
Camille:
He’s already comfortable.
Adrian:
Don’t get greedy.
Camille:
Easy for you to say when creditors aren’t calling me.
That changed another assumption.
Camille was not merely a tool Adrian sharpened.
At critical moments, she accelerated the plan.
Then Adrian’s forensic records produced something worse.
A draft psychological evaluation of Mia.
Fake.
Created before any doctor ever saw her.
It described “persistent lying,” “attachment disturbance,” and “self-inflicted minor injuries.”
The author metadata listed Camille.
She had planned to present a two-year-old as unreliable using language copied from online clinical resources.
Rebecca cried when she read it.
I didn’t.
I felt too cold.
Then the guardian found a corresponding email draft.
Recipient: me.
Subject: We need to talk about Mia.
The body said Camille was “terrified our daughter may hurt herself.”
Our daughter.
She had been preparing to make me afraid of Mia.
Not for Mia.
Of her.
The long-term objective became clear.
May you like
If Mia ever described abuse, Camille wanted me to hear illness instead of truth.
📖 Camille could blame Adrian for fraud, but the fake evaluation belonged to her alone and revealed the future she had planned for Mia. 👇
