Stepmother Beats Poor Waitress For Feeding Stray Dog — The Mafia Boss Saw Her Scars & Takes Action

Chapter 12

Delphine stood there for a long time. Then she said, “She owed that money. My son died because of her negligence. She didn’t take him to the hospital soon enough. She—”

“Mrs. Whitfield,” the judge interrupted. “The hospital forgave this debt seven years ago. You were aware of that. Were you not?”

Delphine’s mouth opened, then closed.

“Answer the question, please.”

“I… I believed she still owed a moral obligation.”

“A moral obligation,” the judge repeated. She removed her glasses and set them on the bench. “Mrs. Whitfield, you collected seventy-one thousand, eight hundred dollars from a woman who was trying to regain custody of her child. You told her that if she stopped paying, the state would never return her daughter. Is that correct?”

Delphine didn’t answer.

The judge looked down at the file again. “It says here that Ms. Elodie Whitfield attended seventy-two consecutive visitation appointments over six years. Not one absence. Not one late arrival. During that same period, she maintained full-time employment, submitted to random home inspections when she finally secured independent housing eight months ago, and completed every requirement the department asked of her.”

She looked up.

“And during that same period, you were living in a home that legally belonged to your late son—a home that should have passed to his wife and child upon his death. Yet you retained control of it. You collected rent from Ms. Whitfield in the form of what you called ‘debt repayment.’ And you used the threat of losing her child to ensure she never questioned you.”

The judge closed the file.

“Mrs. Whitfield, I am referring this matter to the Cook County State’s Attorney for investigation of fraud and extortion. In the meantime, I am granting Ms. Elodie Whitfield’s petition for emergency reunification. Renley Whitfield will be returned to her mother’s care effective immediately.”

She struck the gavel once.

Elodie didn’t move. She sat perfectly still, staring straight ahead, as though she hadn’t heard.

Rosalind leaned over and whispered something to her.

And then—only then—Elodie’s hands, which had been folded so neatly in her lap, began to tremble.