Chapter 17 - Daniel Testifies
Two weeks later, Daniel entered the Senate hearing room in a wheelchair.
His left sleeve was pinned neatly against his uniform.
He had not received a replacement prosthetic.
The failed device sat sealed inside a clear evidence case.
Samuel Price sat behind him.
Monica stood near the wall.
Rachel watched from a television in the flight attendants’ lounge.
Kayla watched from her college dorm.
The hearing began with Northstar executives denying deliberate misconduct.
Then Samuel presented the emails.
The room changed.
Daniel was called next.
He rolled toward the witness table.
A senator asked whether the coffee attack had damaged the evidence.
“Yes.”
“Did it also reveal the seal failure?”
“Yes.”
“Would a properly manufactured military-grade prosthetic have failed after liquid exposure?”
“Not under the contract specifications.”
Northstar’s attorney objected to his technical conclusion.
Daniel produced his engineering certification and years of rehabilitation testing experience.
The objection failed.
Another senator asked about the assault.
Daniel paused.
“I do not want that woman’s behavior confused with the reason we are here.”
The room became quiet.
“She harmed me. The justice system will address that. Northstar harmed veterans across the country while knowing their devices were unsafe. That is the larger responsibility.”
He refused to use his humiliation for sympathy.
He used it to redirect attention toward people without cameras.
Veterans who experienced burns.
Locked joints.
Electrical shocks.
Falls.
One man lost control of a prosthetic hand while holding his infant daughter.
A woman’s device failed while descending stairs.
Daniel read their names.
Not Cynthia’s.
The hearing ended with a suspension of Northstar’s federal contract and an immediate nationwide safety review.
Thousands of veterans received replacement notices.
Rachel watched Daniel leave the room.
She began crying.
Not because he looked broken.
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Because he had turned an attack meant to degrade him into protection for strangers.
👉 Daniel’s testimony changed federal policy—but he still had to face Cynthia in court as the woman who insisted she was the true victim.
