PART 10
“Your mother made a terrible choice, Anna,” Ronnie told her gently. “Adults must take responsibility for their own actions, and you do not have to carry that burden for her.”
Dahlia remained under house arrest at her aunt’s residence, facing charges of child endangerment and obstruction of justice. For weeks, she refused to speak to investigators.
“I was terrified of my brothers,” Dahlia sobbed during a deposition. “My father threatened to take Anna away from me forever if I did not follow his rules.”
Patricia, Ronnie’s lawyer, remained completely unmoved by her tears.
“Fear explains her silence, but it does not heal a child’s broken bones,” Patricia stated to the court.
The final custody hearing was moved to a federal court in Savannah to completely avoid any local influence. The local judge in Blackwood Ridge, Judge Arthur Poole, resigned immediately after federal agents discovered large cash deposits from the Higgins family in his wife’s bank account.
Even so, the defense lawyers tried to delay the hearing, claiming that Ronnie was a violent military officer seeking personal revenge.
In response, Ronnie voluntarily handed over his personal phones, bank accounts, and his team’s communication logs.
The records contained no threats, no illegal plans, and no attempts to fabricate evidence. There were only messages about legal public records, formal witness protection requests, and Ronnie’s constant reminders to his team to follow the law.
The night before the custody trial, Dahlia begged to speak with Ronnie.
They met in a small visitation room at the prosecutor’s office, separated by a heavy wooden table.
“I saw them drag her out to the patio,” Dahlia whispered, covering her face with her hands. “I wanted to run downstairs, but my mother told me they would throw me out on the street with nothing. I heard the first strike of the metal. Then I closed the curtain.”
“She called out for you, Dahlia,” Ronnie said quietly.
May you like
“I know she did,” Dahlia wept.
“She called for you several times, and you closed the curtain so you could pretend it wasn’t happening,” Ronnie said. “But it was happening, and she was watching you do it.”
