Chapter 7 - The Final Verdict
The trial lasted less than a week.
With Melissa's testimony and my father's irrefutable financial paper trail, Garrett’s defense attorneys barely even tried.
The jury deliberated for only three hours.
Guilty on all twenty-two counts.
I sat in the front row as the judge read the sentence.
"Garrett Vance," the judge said sternly. "Your actions demonstrate a profound lack of morality, greed, and a complete disregard for the trust placed in you by your family and your employers. I sentence you to twenty-five years in federal prison, without the possibility of early parole."
Twenty-five years.
Garrett collapsed into his chair, sobbing uncontrollably.
I felt... nothing.
No triumph. No joy. Just a hollow sense of finality.
I walked out of the courthouse, where my father was waiting by his car.
"It's done," my father said, opening the door for me.
"It's done," I agreed, getting in.
The divorce papers were finalized the next day. I took back my maiden name. Claire Sterling.
Garrett was transferred to a maximum-security federal penitentiary in another state. He would be in his sixties by the time he got out. He would have no money, no family, and no future.
He was a ghost.
And I was finally free to start rebuilding my life.
I quit my job at the ER. I couldn't bear to walk those halls anymore. I couldn't bear the smell of the antiseptic or the hum of the monitors.
Instead, my father and I sat down in his study one evening.
"What do you want to do now, Claire?" he asked gently. "You have the rest of your life. And you have my entire fortune at your disposal."
May you like
I looked at the framed photo of Ethan on my father's desk.
"I want to make sure no mother ever has to stand in a hospital hallway feeling helpless again," I said.
