Chapter 7 - The Reckoning in Court
Three months later, the courtroom was packed with journalists, industry executives, and curious resort guests. Sutton sat at the defense table in a drab gray jumpsuit, her high-society veneer completely melted away, while my parents stared fixedly at the polished mahogany floor, abandoned by the elite friends they had spent a lifetime impressing. As the prosecuting attorney played Briany’s original video footage alongside Alden’s sworn eyewitness testimony and Vesper’s forensic accounting audit, the judge didn't hesitate. Sutton was found guilty of grand larceny, identity theft, and aggravated assault, facing up to six years in federal and state penitentiaries. My parents were slapped with severe financial restitution orders that stripped them of their country club memberships and suburban home.
