Chapter 18 - Falling Dominoes
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The annulment was finalized six short weeks later.
Because of the overwhelming audio evidence, the eyewitness testimony of two hundred guests, and the paper trail provided by the bank’s fraud department, Derek had no legal standing to fight.
Faced with mounting legal costs and ironclad evidence, Derek eventually entered a guilty plea to misdemeanor assault and attempted grand financial fraud.
To avoid state prison time, he was forced to accept a sentence that included three years of strict probation, mandatory anger management counseling, heavy financial restitution, and a permanent felony record.
The conviction ruined his reputation instantly. Within forty-eight hours of his court hearing, his financial firm terminated his employment, citing severe ethics violations. His high-society friends vanished overnight.
Patricia avoided criminal prosecution due to lack of direct signatures on the loan documents, but her life of luxury crumbled completely. Without my financial backing, she lost the guesthouse, lost her luxury car, and was forced to move into a tiny rented apartment two states away, living off a modest pension.
I never spoke to either of them again.
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I spent the next few months liquidating my remaining stakes in the city, severing every single tie that linked my past to the nightmare I had so narrowly escaped.
I didn't want revenge anymore. I wanted peace.
