Enoch was held under guard, two men positioned firmly on either side of him.
"Wait! Wait!" Enoch choked out. "You can't do this! I saved her!"
Silas paused. He turned around, still holding Clare tightly in his arms. He nodded once to the guard, who eased his grip enough for Enoch to pull something from his jacket.
Enoch reached in with trembling, bandaged fingers. He pulled out a folded, crumpled piece of paper. It was stained with grease and dirt.
"I have papers!" Enoch yelled desperately. "Legal papers! I adopted her! She was a stray, eating out of garbage cans! I gave her a home!"
Genevieve stood next to Silas. She stared at the dirty paper in Enoch's hand. Her entire body shook.
A man in a sharp gray suit stepped out from behind the SUVs. He was the Barrett family's lead attorney. He walked over to Enoch and took the paper from his hand.
The lawyer adjusted his glasses. He scanned the document for exactly three seconds.
He let out a short, dry laugh. "This is a generic form printed off the internet. The signature is forged, there is no notary stamp, and it hasn't been filed with any state or federal agency. It's worthless."
Enoch's face turned purple. "She's a liar and a thief!" he screamed, pointing a bandaged finger at Clare. "She's ungrateful! I fed her! You owe me!"
Kayleigh, restrained nearby, nodded frantically. "She's trouble! She deserves everything she got!"
Clare looked at Silas. His jaw was clenched tight. He passed her gently to Genevieve, and then walked toward Enoch with slow, deliberate steps. When he stopped in front of the man, he said nothing for a moment. He simply looked at him.
"Stop," a small voice rang out.
Everyone looked.
Clare looked down at Enoch from Genevieve's arms. Her voice was quiet, but it cut through the tension like a knife.
"He didn't feed me," Clare said clearly. She looked at Silas. "He made me sleep in the woodshed. He punished me every day if I didn't finish the work."
She pointed to the dark, ugly bruises on her collarbone. "He said I was a waste of space."
She spoke about the mistreatment with a flat calm that was more heartbreaking than any outburst. It was the voice of a child who had long ago learned not to expect anyone to care.
Genevieve held Clare tighter, her tears falling silently.
Silas looked at Enoch. His voice, when it came, was very quiet. "You will answer for every single day."
He turned back to his lawyer. "Make sure the child welfare report is filed immediately. I want every agency involved. His record will follow him for the rest of his life."
Kayleigh tried to speak again. A guard stepped forward and guided her firmly away.
Clare asked Genevieve to put her down. Genevieve hesitated, but gently set her on her feet.
Clare walked over to the lawyer. She took the fake adoption paper from his hand. She walked over to where Enoch stood.
She looked up at him. She slowly ripped the paper in half. Then she ripped it again, and again, until it was nothing but tiny shreds.
She opened her hand. The pieces of paper fluttered down like dirty snow.
"This isn't the end," Clare said quietly. "This is just the beginning of what's coming."
Tabitha was kneeling in the mud, holding Gus. She looked at Clare and started to beg. "Please! We have a child! Have mercy!"
Clare turned her gaze to Gus.
Gus saw her looking at him. He flinched back hard, throwing his hands over his head. He pressed himself against his grandmother, shaking.
The Barrett family's resources and the weight of the law were formidable, but the Pruitt family now understood: the little girl in the expensive coat was the one they should have treated with respect from the very beginning.
Silas turned to his lawyer. "Freeze every account. Seize the land under the existing liens. I want them to have nothing left to use against anyone."
The lawyer pulled out a tablet. His fingers flew across the screen. "Done, sir."
Clare turned around. She walked back toward the warm, idling SUV. She didn't look back at the Pruitts again.
