He pulled out an mp3 player and a single speaker. “This recording has been authenticated by well-respected experts.” Then, he pressed play.
“Alicia, I think I may know how I can salvage all of this.”
“And just how do you think you can fix this? This isn’t fixable!”
“What about if we beat them to the punch? We can call our own press conference to announce to the world that at considerable risk to myself, I selflessly donated blood to a daughter I never knew I had until the day of the accident.”
“That’s all great for you but how will you explain that she was conceived while we were married Ryan?”
“We can say that you and I were separated during the time Angel was conceived. But, we realized how much we meant to each other and decided to make our marriage work. Everyone can understand marriages going through problems.”
“There is one more piece to this that would definitely put us into the Governor’s mansion. The whole plan rests solely on if you can accept this.”
“And just what other sacrifices would you have me make Ryan?”
“We’d need to file for sole custody of Angel.”
John Lucas stopped the tape. Vicky sat incredulous.
“This was at the hospital Ryan! We didn’t even know if Angel was going to live or die back then!” Vicky jumped out of her chair and lunged at him. However, John Lucas was able to stop her before she was able to connect. “You are a cold-heartless bastard!”
Ryan’s attorney was stunned. She was clearly trying to calculate her way out of this. “Control your client Mr. Lucas!” Ms. Abernathy was furiously trying to find an out in this situation. You could see her mind thinking. “My client’s position is this tape was obtained illegally and therefore inadmissible evidence in this case.”
“This tape was obtained legally. I have a date/time stamped video that can prove it.”
“How did you get this tape?”
“The aunt of my client, Ms. Shirley Martin, had been in the same waiting room earlier in the day. She inadvertently, left her cell phone in the waiting room.
“Ms. Martin obviously knew Mr. Carter would be using the room.”
“Unfortunately for you, she never knew your client would be using the room. To my understanding and according to witness testimony, no-one knew where your client was or if he was even going to show up. Shall I continue?”
The look of defeat started to appear on her formally smug face, “Continue.”
“In the process of checking her home messages somehow she inadvertently pressed the button to leave a message instead of disconnecting the call. She then preceded to accidently leave the cell phone in between the seat cushions where her home voice-mail began to record your conversation. It was several hours later before her cell phone was discovered missing and ultimately located in the waiting room. Ms. Martin discovered she had the recording two days ago when she accidently listened to an archived message.” John Lucas gave Ms. Abernathy a manila envelope. “You’ll find a report inside authenticating the recordings.”
Ryan reached over and whispered into his lawyer’s ear. “I’ll need a minute with my client.”
John Lucas gave him a smile that said, I just won this case without even taking it to court. “I thought you might.”
Ryan and his attorney stepped out of the chambers the same way the Judge had left.
Vicky was both seething with anger and relieved at the same time. “Mr. Lucas? I…I can’t believe this.”
“Believe it. This nightmare is almost over. Even without this bit of evidence, we would have won this case. Mr. Carter has a nasty little past. We had a Plan A, B, and C. This just happened to drop in our lap.”
It didn’t take long for Ryan and his attorney to come back into the Judge’s chambers.
“My client and I would like to come to an agreement. Our terms are if the tape is destroyed, then he is willing to give up all of his parental rights.”
The surprises kept coming. Vicky didn’t know why she was surprised that this gutless piece of man would do this. “Ryan, are you serious? You’ve met her. She’s your daughter. What kind of man would do this?”
He wouldn’t even look at Vicky.
Ms. Abernathy experiencing defeat for the first time was cold in her response, “Those are our terms.”
Vicky spat out at him, “Don’t act like you hold any cards in this situation because you don’t. We all now know this whole stunt was about your political career and damn all the lives you’ve affected.”
Vicky gave herself a moment to breathe. After a second she exhaled, “She’s better off without you. We all are. Fine, I’ll agree to those terms on one condition. If and only if, when Angel is old enough and wants to meet you…you meet her. She deserves to get answers from you and hopefully she’ll be able to get closure on why you so willingly discarded her.” Vicky folded her arms across her chest to keep from trying to attack him again. “Those…are…my…terms.”
Ryan finally spoke for the first time since they’d entered the judge’s chambers. “I want a confidentiality agreement that you or anyone close to you won’t discuss the terms. If I can get that along with confirmation that the tape has been destroyed...I’m sure we can leave the attorney’s to wrap this up.”
“I will not agree to that. I won’t destroy the tape until Angel’s twenty-fifth birthday. Until then, it should be held in a safe-deposit box monitored by the courts.”
Vicky could see Ryan didn’t like that
