Chapter 28: The Smear Campaign & The Shakedown
The following morning, the Grandview Press Club auditorium was packed to capacity with reporters, television camera crews, and tabloid photographers. At the center of the elevated stage sat Sarah Sterling, positioned behind a long table cluttered with twenty microphones from competing regional networks. She wore a deliberately plain, drab gray dress with zero jewelry and minimal makeup, projecting the engineered image of a modest, suffering woman broken by systemic injustice. Seated right beside her was Evelyn Sterling, dabbing fake tears from her dry eyes with a damp linen handkerchief, ready to perform their scripted roles for the cameras.
Gideon Sterling stood off to the side of the stage, adjusting his greasy tie and signaling the televi
