"She's calling me a pedophile, Lydia. My daughter's crying. My son called asking if I'm going to jail."
"I know, and it's defamation, and we're adding it to the lawsuit. But if you engage, you look guilty. Let me handle this."
Her voice softened.
"Dakota, this is what desperate people do. She knows we filed. She knows her attorney's seen our evidence. This is a Hail Mary to discredit you before trial."
"It's working. I've gotten 12 messages from people I went to high school with asking what's going on."
"Good. Screenshot everything. Every share, every comment, every message. It's all evidence of malice."
I spent the next three hours documenting the post spread.
By midnight, it had 847 shares.
Someone had created a hashtag, #StopDakotaFlint.
I didn't sleep.
The next morning, my boss called me into his office.
Martin's a good guy. Ex-Navy. Ran the structural engineering firm where I'd worked for 14 years.
He closed the door, which is never a good sign.
"Dakota, I got a call this morning from a potential client. They Googled our firm and found a situation with your name attached."
My chest tightened.
"The Facebook post."
"Yeah."
He rubbed his face.
"Look, I know you. You're solid. But this client's a school district, and they're nervous about optics. They specifically asked if you'd be on the project."
"And you told them no."
"I told them you're on personal leave pending resolution of a legal matter, which, effective today, you are."
He pulled out an envelope.
"Paid leave, two weeks. If this gets resolved, you're back immediately. If it doesn't..."
He didn't finish.
I took the envelope.
"Understood."
Walking to my truck, I passed Jenny from accounting. She'd always been friendly. Brought cookies at Christmas, asked about my kids.
She saw me coming and literally crossed to the other side of the parking lot.
That's when I understood what Cassandra was doing.
She wasn't just attacking my legal claim.
She was attacking my life, my reputation, my job, my ability to exist in my own community.
I sat in my truck and called Lydia again.
"They're destroying me," I said. "I just got put on leave. People are crossing the street to avoid me."
"I'm filing an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order against Cassandra. Defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, interference with business relations. We'll have a hearing Monday."
She paused.
"But Dakota, you need to understand something. This gets worse before it gets better. If you want to walk away, I'll negotiate a settlement. You'll get something. Maybe half a million. You can move. Start over."
I thought about Grandpa's note.
Don't let the bastards take what's yours.
"No," I said. "We finish this."