My father called at 1:30 a.m. as if he were handling a problem he did not know how to manage. \u201cTomorrow you can join your brother\u2019s fianc\u00e9e\u2019s family for dinner,\u201d he said, \u201cbut keep your mouth shut.\u201d When I asked why, my mother\u2019s voice cut through the speaker: \u201cHer dad\u2019s a judge. Don\u2019t embarrass us. You always do.\u201d I smiled and answered, \u201cGot it.\u201d My name is Julia Mercer. I am thirty-five, an assistant district attorney in Richmond, Virginia, and according to my family I have spent most of my adult life making things awkward by refusing to lie politely when the truth would do.<\/p>\n
My older brother Grant was forever the son they believed should have been born into a larger fortune. Failed businesses, credit disasters, and \u201ctemporary support\u201d had always been absorbed by the family so he could keep floating. Now he was engaged to Elise Parker, whose father was a state court judge. The midnight call was not about love or inclusion. It was risk control. They told me not to bring up work, politics, or the past, and to keep my job description simple if asked. I arrived at the private dining room of an old steakhouse the next evening and immediately understood why.<\/p>\n
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