Chapter 25 - The Trial of David Vance
David pleaded guilty before trial.
The courtroom was crowded again.
Less media this time.
Public fascination had moved on.
That suited me.
David admitted to conspiracy to commit extortion, interstate stalking, corporate fraud, and violating protective orders.
In exchange, prosecutors dismissed two lesser counts and credited his cooperation against Charles.
The judge sentenced him to eleven years in federal prison.
He would likely serve most of it.
When given the chance to speak, David stood.
His hands trembled.
“I spent my entire adult life believing success meant never hearing the word no.”
The courtroom remained silent.
“I cheated on my wife. I stole from my company. I abandoned my daughter during a medical emergency. Then when my wife finally protected herself, I convinced myself I was the victim.”
He looked toward me.
I held his gaze.
“I wanted my life back so badly that I became willing to terrorize the people I claimed to love.”
His voice broke.
“I am ashamed.”
Then he looked at the judge.
“I don’t deserve mercy because I finally understand what I did.”
It was the most honest thing I had ever heard him say.
After sentencing, a marshal led him away.
He stopped near me.
Not close enough to violate anything.
“Sarah.”
The marshal looked at me.
I nodded once.
David swallowed.
“Tell Lily…”
He stopped.
Then shook his head.
“No.”
I waited.
“I don’t have the right to ask you to tell her anything.”
For the first time, he understood a boundary without fighting it.
He turned and walked away.
Outside, reporters shouted questions.
I ignored them.
Rebecca waited beside the car.
“How was it?”
“Finished.”
“Really?”
I looked back at the courthouse.
“Yes.”
Charles’s trial came next.
Unlike David, he refused to plead.
Three months of testimony followed.
Julianne testified.
Daniel testified.
Ethan testified.
Arthur testified.
Rebecca testified.
I testified.
Charles sat through all of it with the expression of a man convinced rules were for lesser people.
The jury deliberated six hours.
Guilty on all major counts.
His sentence?
Twenty-seven years.
At seventy-one years old, it was effectively life.
After the verdict, I expected triumph.
Instead, I felt tired.
Very tired.
Arthur understood.
“Wars are glamorous only to people who haven’t survived one.”
We walked down the courthouse steps.
“What happens now?” I asked.
“Now?”
He smiled.
“You live.”
That was harder than it sounded.
For almost two years, my life had revolved around emergency.
Doctors.
Lawyers.
Security.
Investigators.
Courts.
Threats.
When danger disappears, silence can feel unnatural.
At home that evening, Lily sat at the kitchen counter doing homework.
Thomas cooked pasta.
Rebecca argued with Arthur about his sodium intake.
Marcus complained that nobody appreciated his surveillance budget.
I stood in the doorway.
This chaotic, strange collection of people had become my family.
Not the family I planned.
The family that remained.
Lily looked up.
“Mom?”
“Yes?”
“Why are you staring?”
“Because I’m happy.”
She narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
“Are you going to cry?”
“Maybe.”
“Please don’t. Thomas burned the garlic bread and we already have one disaster.”
Thomas turned from the oven.
“I did not burn it.”
Smoke rose behind him.
Rebecca laughed.
Arthur shouted, “Open a window!”
The smoke detector screamed.
Lily covered her ears.
I laughed until my stomach hurt.
And somewhere in the middle of the noise, I realized Arthur was right.
The war was over.
May you like
Now came the brave part.
Living.
