Chapter 10
“You can’t do this!” Logan screamed, his panic turning to rage. “It’s illegal. You can’t just abandon an elderly parent. The law says adult children have to provide care. I looked it up. Filial responsibility laws. If you won’t take her, I’m taking you to court.”
I actually laughed.
It was a hard, sharp sound.
“Logan, you really are an idiot.”
“We’ll see who’s the idiot when the judge forces you to pay her medical bills,” he spat. “I’m filing the petition tomorrow. We’ll see you in court, Cashin.”
He grabbed the handles of Mom’s wheelchair and yanked her backward.
Mom reached a hand out toward the door, crying my name, but Logan wheeled her away into the darkness.
Vivien looked at me.
“Should I call the lawyer?”
“First thing in the morning,” I said.
Logan actually went through with it.
He found a sleazy, bottom-of-the-barrel family-law attorney willing to work on contingency, banking on the idea that I would settle out of court to avoid bad publicity.
They filed a petition under the state’s filial responsibility laws, claiming that my mother was indigent, unable to care for herself, and that as her oldest son with a high income, I was legally obligated to provide her with housing and financial support.
They thought they had me cornered.
They didn’t realize they were walking into a slaughterhouse.
The hearing took place in a small, sterile family courtroom.
Logan sat at the plaintiff’s table wearing a cheap suit that didn’t fit.
Mom sat beside him in her wheelchair, looking frail and pathetic.
Sienna hadn’t even bothered to show up.
I sat at the defense table with Vivien and our lawyer, Marcus Vance.
Marcus was a shark—expensive, ruthless, and extremely prepared.
Logan’s lawyer, a sweaty man named Mr. Gable, made his opening statement.
He painted a picture of a tragic elderly woman abandoned by her wealthy, heartless son. He cited my income, my assets, and claimed I had both a moral and legal duty to prevent my mother from becoming a ward of the state.
When it was our turn, Marcus stood up and casually buttoned his suit jacket.
“Your Honor,” Marcus began, addressing the tired-looking judge, “the plaintiff is attempting to use filial responsibility laws to extort my client. However, filial responsibility applies only when a parent becomes indigent through no fault of their own, and when they have not maliciously abandoned or abused the child in question.”
Marcus walked over to the judge’s bench and handed over a thick binder.
“Exhibit A,” he said. “Bank records proving that my client, Cashin Harper, provided his mother with twenty-five hundred dollars a month for seven years—a total of two hundred ten thousand dollars in direct financial support. Furthermore, he provided free room, board, and medical transportation.”
“Past support doesn’t negate current obligation,” Mr. Gable objected weakly.
“No, it doesn’t,” Marcus agreed smoothly. “But Exhibit B does.”