THE FIRST STEP: DO IT LEGALLY
People love stories where the wronged person storms into the house and confronts the villains.
That makes good TV.
In real life, it gets you buried.
My father knew that.
So I didn’t go back to Linda’s house.
I went to someone who could make truth matter in a courtroom.
Legal aid.
I walked into the office with the boxes and the flash drive and the kind of calm that comes after your life has already burned down once.
A lawyer named Marisol Grant met with me in a small room. She had sharp eyes and a tired face—the face of someone who has seen systems fail people over and over and refuses to stop fighting anyway.
She didn’t interrupt while I explained.
When I finished, she sat back and said, quietly:
“Eli… this isn’t just a mistake. This is a scheme.”
My throat tightened. “Can we fix it?”
Marisol looked at me carefully.
“We can try,” she said. “But you need to be ready. Because once we start, they’ll fight like people who’ve been comfortable for too long.”
I nodded.
“I’ve been fighting since the day I was locked up,” I said. “I’m just finally fighting with the truth.”
Marisol’s eyes softened slightly.
“Okay,” she said. “Then we do this right.”
