Chapter 17 - THE TRIAL
Michael went to trial first.
The prosecution had bank records.
Voice notes.
Forged trust documents.
Storage-unit files.
The sedative plan.
Three prior families testified.
So did Sabrina.
Michael's lawyer tried to make her look greedy.
"You opened C.S. Holdings, correct?"
"Yes."
"You expected money."
"I expected wedding refunds."
"You wanted your biological father in your life."
"Yes."
"And you rejected Harold Reed at your wedding."
"Yes."
The courtroom went quiet.
Then she added:
"That was cruel. It was also separate from whether Michael stole."
Good answer.
She did not clean herself to make him dirty.
Michael was convicted on multiple fraud and conspiracy counts.
Jason pleaded guilty. Claire entered a plea.
She avoided the longest possible sentence because she cooperated early enough to recover funds.
The judge still sent her to prison.
Before sentencing, Claire asked to speak.
"I spent years thinking Harold's steadiness meant his life would always wait for me."
"I treated his work as small because it was familiar. Then I let a man who abandoned his daughter convince me that glamour was a second chance."
No excuse.
Claire continued:
"I destroyed a suit because I wanted to destroy the person in the room who made me feel ashamed of myself."
That was the first time Claire said something I believed completely.
She apologized to Sabrina.
To me.
To Nathan.
No request for forgiveness.
The judge sentenced her.
Afterward, Sabrina asked me:
"Do you still love her?"
"Some part of me probably always will."
"Will you take her back?"
"No."
Love was not the same as access.
Then Miriam handed me final restitution numbers.
Most of the stolen money had been recovered.
Not all.
"Use my share to repay the three other families first."
"You don't owe them."
"No."
"But my trust is the reason we found them."
Then she told me one family refused.
Joseph Reed.
My cousin.
May you like
He wanted to speak to me himself.
"Don't turn this into another way you get to rescue everybody."
