Chapter 9 - The settlement I signed
I signed.
That was my secret.
Not a gun.
Not blackmail.
A contract.
$180,000.
A college account for Chloe funded with $75,000.
Continued employment if I wanted it, though not guaranteed by the settlement itself.
In exchange:
I released certain copyright and authorship claims relating to works identified in an exhibit.
Confidentiality.
Non-disparagement.
No admission of wrongdoing.
The exhibit included:
Ashes Above the River and “source materials associated with Blackwood collaborative sessions.”
The Lantern Sea was not named.
My attorney at the time was a general-practice lawyer recommended by a family friend.
He told me:
“Copyright cases are expensive. Authorship is messy. You have a baby.”
He was not corrupt.
Just outmatched.
I signed because Daniel had left medical bills.
Because I had a fourteen-month-old daughter.
Because I was exhausted.
Because Victor told me Daniel’s music would survive.
Because I believed $255,000 in value could become a form of safety.
For nine years, I hated myself for signing.
That self-hatred helped Victor more than any contract.
Because I assumed signing meant I had surrendered the truth itself.
I had not.
Contracts resolve claims.
They do not rewrite history automatically.
May you like
That distinction took years to learn.
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