"Parkinson's?" Lily emulated his voice. She raised her voice. "Is this some kind of candy that you are asking me to have?" Her voice became louder. "You just want me to go to the doctor's office and say that 'Hey give me a certificate of a disease I don't have and that too make it quick!" She tilted her head. "Then what will doctor say?" She gestured with her index finger. "Yes, Mrs. Wyatt, here you go. We officially make you a patient who has memory issues. And then what will follow?" she almost barked with her spit showering the lawyers around her, who all leaned back in their chairs. "The whole company would come to know and whatever dignity is left in me will be flushed down in the toilet and all employees are going to take advantage!" She glared hard at Hertz. "You must be joking!"

Hertz was in his mid-forties, balding but pretty maintained. He pressed his lips in a thin line. This woman was more difficult in person than what he had heard. She was practically insane. He suggested, "How about Schizophrenia?" He shrugged his shoulders. "That would look better," he said, actually meaning to say that it would sound natural.

​​

"Shut up!" she literally yelled at him. "I will not make myself look mad or amnesiac to counter that defamation case. Think of something else. For God's sake, I have ten lawyers sitting in front of me, which means ten brains. Don't tell me that none of you know a way around this mess."

One of the junior lawyers, fresh out of the university, spoke, "Mrs. Wyatt, we have all discussed your problem and this is the only solution of this problem, unless—"

"Unless what?" she spat again.

The lawyers leaned back in their chairs. Some of them moved their chairs farther away.

"Unless you want to pay twenty million dollars…"

Lily's eyes bulged and knees became wobbly. Her head became dizzy. "Twenty million?" she whispered. That was the amount Dawn had sued her for.

Hertz shook his head and gave a dirty look to the junior lawyer. 'These new lawyers…' he shook his head.

Lily thought that she saw stars in her vision once again. Her breathing became shallow. "Is there no way to defend ourselves?" she asked in a voice so low that it was difficult to believe that she was shouting a few seconds back. She looked like a plucked chicken.

"There isn't," Hertz shook his head. "We have debated each and every legal angle."

As if this was still sinking, one of the lawyers on her right said, "The plaintiff has asked for an early date of hearing in the court for The Starfish Refineries. Mr. David McDow and you are summoned for the first hearing. It seems that they have unearthed a solid evidence against you." He pushed a folder in front of her. Pointing with his chin he said, "This is the evidence."

By now whatever little breath was left in her lungs was whooshed out. She gasped. This was akin to nightmares, no this was a nightmare. With trembling hands, she opened the folder. It contained the information about all the bribes that they had made for hefty bids to the government employees. Her face paled and seeing that she was about to faint, Hertz got up from his chair and ran to fetch a glass of water for her.

Lily gulped down the entire glass in one go and Hertz got another glass of water.

David hadn't come back. He was still on his vacation with Rose and her poor daughter was in the house. She felt like crying for Anne. But she often wondered as to why the two stray away from each other. They had loved each other a lot. Then what happened?

"Mrs. Wyatt, should we fix an appointment with a doctor?" asked the junior lawyer. "The sooner it is, the better it would be…"

"Are you certain there is no way out?" she asked for one last time.

"We are certain," Hertz replied for all of them.

She looked at the ten lawyers sitting in her office. All of them were staring at her while she took turns to see them. These ten advocates couldn't do a thing about the defamation case. Dawn had carefully and slowly built a very strong case against her. She suspected that her husband was also behind her as a pillar of support. She had to concede to what the lawyers said. "Okay, you can take an appointment, but keep it a secret. I don't want this to be leaked in social media else I am doomed!"

"Yes, Madam," said Hertz. "I will ensure it."

Lily started collecting her purse in order to leave when Hertz interjected, "You will have to appear for the first hearing in three weeks."

Her heart sank. Just a day back she was thinking of going on a vacation with her family because she had thought that she had successfully eliminated Dawn, and today she was sitting with her lawyers discussing her options to come off the muddle Dawn had woven around her.

"Okay… I will appear," she said in a low dejected voice.

"I would like to suggest something, Mrs. Wyatt," Hertz continued in a grave voice.

"What?"

"Although we all are gathered here to help you with keeping the Starfish Refineries intact, we are of the opinion that if you agree to all the allegations that are charged against you, your jail sentence is going to reduce a lot."

Lily picked up the glass and splashed the water across his face. "No one can put me in jail!" She grabbed her purse and walked out of the meeting room.

---

Three weeks later…

Cole's sixteenth birthday.

Ever since Quetz had left, Cole had become very quiet. He didn't know how to handle his feelings. Conversation with Dawn was concise. He didn't know why Quetz left so suddenly. He had been up all night to talk to him, as he wanted to apologize for being rude to him, but when he went to meet Quetz the following morning, his bed was empty. Dawn informed him that Quetz had left for good. His heart shattered into a thousand pieces.

And now… his heart longed to meet Quetz… He thought that if he didn't see Quetz soon, he might go mad. He had never been so fixated on anyone in his life.