Chapter 12
Edmund was found guilty on all major counts.
Kidnapping.
Conspiracy.
Fraud.
Medical imprisonment.
Forgery.
Witness intimidation.
And involvement in my brother’s death.
He stood still as the verdicts came.
One by one.
Like stones dropped into a grave he had dug for others.
Hannah squeezed Elise’s hand so hard their knuckles whitened.
Oliver stayed home with a therapist and a security officer.
I wished he could hear justice.
Then I was grateful he did not have to hear Edmund breathe.
Sentencing was scheduled later.
Victoria’s trial began two weeks after.
She looked smaller without Edmund beside her.
But I knew better.
Small people can do enormous harm.
Her lawyer tried to paint her as controlled by my father.
Then prosecutors played her recordings.
He was never supposed to be found.
If Arthur hears tapping again, call Price.
Oliver is easier to manage when hungry.
The jury heard every word.
I watched Victoria’s face.
She cried only when the recording mentioned her own reputation.
Not Oliver.
Never Oliver.
Then Hannah found one more file in the mansion archive.
Victoria’s fertility records.
She had been unable to have children.
My heart twisted.
Not with sympathy.
With understanding sharpened by disgust.
She had not hated Oliver because he was difficult.
She hated him because he was mine and not hers.
Because he inherited what she could not produce.
May you like
Because in Edmund’s world, children were currency.
Victoria had learned the language too well.
