Chapter 22 - Corinne Takes the Stand
Nobody expected Corinne to testify.
Then she did.
Her lawyers clearly hated it.
Adrian knew why she insisted.
Corinne believed in her own ability to persuade.
It had worked for years.
She wore pale blue.
Soft makeup.
No jewelry except a small cross Adrian had never seen her wear before.
The prosecutor noticed that too.
Corinne began well.
She described meeting Adrian.
Falling in love.
Wanting to help with Lila.
Feeling overwhelmed by motherhood.
Resenting Adrian's work schedule.
Financial pressure from Hale.
Manipulation from Sloane.
For twenty minutes, she almost sounded like somebody else had built her life.
Then her own lawyer asked, "Did you intend for Lila to die?"
"No."
"Did you deliberately attempt to kill her?"
"No."
"What happened?"
Corinne cried.
"I lost my temper."
Adrian's jaw tightened.
"I said something awful. She looked at me and—I don't know—I pushed her."
"You regret that?"
"Every day."
"Why did you raise your foot?"
"I was trying to balance."
Brooke shook her head from the gallery.
The judge noticed.
So did everyone else.
On cross-examination, the prosecutor approached slowly.
"You lost your temper?"
"Yes."
"For five months?"
Corinne blinked.
"I'm sorry?"
The prosecutor displayed the surveillance photographs.
"You measured the distance from the lounger to the edge three weeks before the incident."
"For furniture."
"No furniture was ordered."
"We were considering it."
"You photographed the metal rim."
"I liked the design."
"You disabled the camera?"
"No."
"You handed Sloane your phone."
"That doesn't mean—"
"You practiced pushing a cushion?"
Corinne's eyes flashed.
"Brooke is lying."
"You wrote, 'If she catches rim, finish it.'"
"No."
"Handwriting experts disagree."
"They can be wrong."
"Digital reconstruction recovered the paper from your friend's storage unit."
"I didn't put it there."
The prosecutor paused.
"Everyone is lying except you?"
Corinne looked toward the jury.
"I'm saying this became a story people used to save themselves."
"Did Lila lie?"
Silence.
Adrian stopped breathing.
Corinne said, "She's a child."
"That wasn't my question."
"My stepdaughter was terrified."
"Did she lie?"
Corinne looked at Adrian.
He saw the calculation.
Even now.
If she called Lila a liar, the jury would hate her.
If she admitted Lila told the truth, the case tightened.
Corinne tried another path.
"Children remember emotion more clearly than detail."
The prosecutor nodded.
"Interesting."
Then displayed a transcript.
"Your recorded call with Mr. Cole. You said, 'You think I don't see her every time I close my eyes?'"
"Yes."
"What do you see?"
Corinne swallowed.
"Lila falling."
"Because you pushed her?"
Her lawyer objected.
Overruled.
Corinne hesitated.
"I caused her to fall."
The courtroom went silent.
The prosecutor stepped closer.
"You caused her to fall."
"Yes."
"Intentionally?"
"I pushed her intentionally."
Adrian shut his eyes.
There.
Finally.
"But I didn't intend—"
The prosecutor cut in.
"You intentionally pushed a three-year-old child who was standing approximately one meter from an unguarded yacht edge."
Corinne's voice rose.
"I didn't think she'd go over."
"You measured the distance."
"For furniture!"
"You photographed the rim."
"I told you—"
"You wrote instructions for what to do if she caught it."
"I DIDN'T WRITE THAT."
Her voice cracked through the room.
For the first time, Corinne lost control.
The prosecutor waited.
Then asked quietly:
"When Adrian called Lila's name, why did you stop?"
Corinne stared.
"What?"
"Your foot."
"It wasn't—"
"Why did you freeze?"
"I was startled."
"Because he came back too fast?"
Corinne's face changed.
Tiny.
Fatal.
The prosecutor turned toward the jury.
"No further questions."
Corinne knew it.
Adrian knew it.
So did the room.
She had spent years believing control meant being the smartest person present.
But control had one weakness.
May you like
Eventually, reality got a turn to speak.
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