Chapter 8: What Owen Offered
Patterson sent the settlement offer on a Thursday.
Rebecca called me at my father's house and read it to me over the phone.
I sat on the back porch with the water visible through the trees and listened to the full terms.
Owen was offering to sign over the Savannah condo with no contest, withdraw any LLC claim, cover Rebecca's legal fees to date, and provide a written statement acknowledging that the property had always been intended as Mara Bennett's sole asset.
In exchange, he wanted the civil fraud complaint withdrawn, the Bar Association complaint against Richard Hale suspended, and a mutual non-disclosure agreement covering all events from the wedding night forward.
"He wants silence," I said.
"He wants the crjminal referral off the table," Rebecca said.
"The property and the fees are the price he's willing to pay for that."
"What about the other women?"
"The NDA would cover only your case.
It wouldn't prevent Claire or the other woman from filing independently."
"Does Owen know that?"
"Patterson knows it.
Whether he's told Owen clearly is another matter."
I watched a bird land on the porch railing and sit there for a moment, perfectly still.
"What does the NDA actually prevent me from doing?"
"Discussing the specifics of the fraud scheme publicly.
Naming Richard Hale in any public forum.
Cooperating with any future investigation into the Mercer family's prior transactions."
"So I take the condo, stay quiet, and let them do it again."
Rebecca was quiet for a moment.
"That's one way to read it."
"Is there another way?"
"No," she said.
"That's the accurate way."
I stood up from the porch chair.
"Claire called you back yesterday," I said.
It wasn't a question.
Rebecca had mentioned it briefly the night before.
"She did."
"Is she willing?"
"She said she'd been waiting three years for someone to ask her."
Something moved in my chest.
"Then we don't take the settlement," I said.
"Mara, I want you to understand what that means.
The crjminal referral goes forward.
Owen's attorney will fight it.
Lorraine will escalate.
This becomes a much longer process."
"I know."
"The condo may be tied up in proceedings for months."
"I know."
"And the NDA offer disappears.
Whatever Owen is willing to give quietly, he won't give once this goes further."
"I know all of that," I said.
"But Claire Odom lost a property in Charleston and spent three years feeling like she let the next woman down.
I'm the next woman.
I don't want to let the one after me down."
The line was quiet.
Then Rebecca said, "I'll call Patterson."
"Tell him no."
"I will." A pause.
"Mara.
For what it's worth — your father raised you well."
I looked out at the water.
"He'd say the same about his attorney."
I heard her almost laugh.
After the call ended, I sat back down on the porch.
The bird was gone.
The water was still.
Dad appeared at the back door with two cups of coffee.
He handed me one without asking.
"We're not settling," I said.
He sat down in the chair beside me.
"I know," he said.
"I heard."
We sat there for a while without speaking.
Then he said, "Your grandmother would have liked you."
I looked at him.
"She was stubborn too," he said.
"In the best possible way."
I wrapped both hands around the cup.
Somewhere in Portland, Claire Odom was waiting for a phone call from Rebecca Sloan.
Somewhere, a woman whose name I still didn't know was living with a decision she'd made because Lorraine Mercer had made her afraid.
May you like
I drank my coffee.
And I waited for what came next.
