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Marcus felt his breath catch in his throat. “Yet?”
“It’s being reviewed. You’ll be notified of any decision.”
The following day, a certified letter arrived. A civil suit — the mother was seeking damages for the broken window and “emotional distress.”
That evening, he met with a legal aid attorney, a woman in her thirties with tired eyes and a reassuring demeanor. She listened carefully to his story, reviewed the police report and store surveillance footage, then leaned back in her chair.
“You’re going to be fine,” she said. “But you need to understand something — this isn’t just about the facts. It’s about optics. And this mother? She’s angry. Embarrassed. Maybe scared she’ll lose custody. People react in unpredictable ways when their parenting is under scrutiny.”
“So she’s turning it on me.”
“Yes. But we’ll file a motion to dismiss. And if it goes to court, I’m confident we’ll win.”
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Still, the weight of it all was exhausting. For the first time, Marcus felt real doubt. Not about what he had done — but about how the world responded to it.
Two weeks later, something unexpected happened.
