Chapter 5 - The Final Judgment
Three months later, the bitter winter chill had given way to the bright, sharp sunlight of an early spring morning.
I stood on the wide marble balcony of my penthouse apartment overlooking the city skyline, holding a cup of freshly brewed coffee, watching the traffic flow smoothly far below. The estate in the suburbs was gone—surrendered entirely to the family trust to cover the legal restitution and debt restructuring. Preston’s parents had retreated into quiet, humiliating obscurity, their high-society standing permanently tainted by their son’s federal indictment and public disgrace.
Preston himself was currently awaiting trial in a federal detention facility, facing up to fifteen years in prison for wire fraud and the illegal misappropriation of protected trust assets. As for Sloane? She had vanished the moment his credit cards were frozen, leaving no forwarding address and no diamond bracelet behind.
My phone chimed softly on the glass table beside me. I picked it up and unlocked the screen. It was an email notification from Arthur Vance.
Subject: Asset Liquidation & Restitution Complete.
Attachment: Final Settlement Decree (Signed by Judge Holloway).
I tapped the file open, scanning the legal prose that confirmed 100% of the frozen assets, liquidated corporate holdings, and remaining properties had been successfully transferred back into my exclusive, unencumbered personal portfolio. My name was clean, my fortune was intact, and my freedom was absolute.
A quiet sense of profound peace washed over me. The humiliation of that night by the fireplace felt like it belonged to another lifetime, to a different woman who didn't know her own strength yet. But that woman was gone forever.
May you like
I took a slow sip of my coffee, looked out across the glittering expanse of the city where I now held all the cards, and smiled.
If you were in Vivian's position, would you have handed Preston over to federal prosecutors immediately, or made him suffer slowly first?
