Chapter 17 - Burying the Past
The trials were swift and merciless. With Arthur dead, Helen, David, and Elena tried to point fingers at each other, creating a chaotic spectacle in the media. The "Adirondack Abandonment" became national news.
Elena received a ten-year sentence in exchange for her full testimony. She cried in the courtroom and begged for my forgiveness. I just stared at her, feeling absolutely nothing. She had left an eight-year-old boy in the wilderness to die. Blood didn't excuse that.
My mother, the architect of the financial fraud alongside my father, was sentenced to twenty-five years in federal prison. David got twenty.
May you like
Sarah’s trust fund was fully recovered and placed into a heavily guarded, irrevocable account for Leo. With Arthur's empire completely dismantled, the Thorne name became synonymous with greed and betrayal. I formally changed my and Leo’s last names to Sarah’s maiden name: Vance. We completely erased the Thorne legacy from our lives.
With the money, I bought a sprawling piece of land in the Pacific Northwest, far away from the toxic concrete of New York. I wanted mountains, but this time, on our own terms.
