Chapter 8 - The Trial of the Century
A year later, the criminal trials concluded. I didn't have to testify; the audio and video recordings were so damning that both David and Eleanor’s defense attorneys practically threw in the towel.
David, faced with decades in federal prison for attempting to steal forty million dollars across international lines, turned on Eleanor, claiming she was the mastermind. Eleanor, realizing her beauty and charm meant nothing to a federal judge, turned on David, claiming she was a victim of his psychological abuse.
It didn't matter. They both burned.
David was sentenced to fifteen years in a high-security federal penitentiary. Eleanor was sentenced to eight years for the fraud and child endangerment charges, with a strict restraining order forbidding her from ever contacting me or the boys again.
On the day of Eleanor’s sentencing, I sat in the back row of the courtroom. She looked hollowed out. The designer clothes were gone, replaced by an ill-fitting beige jumpsuit. Her dyed blonde hair was showing heavy, gray roots. The smug smirk that had haunted my nightmares was permanently erased, replaced by a permanent, bitter scowl.
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As the bailiff led her away, she stopped and looked at me across the courtroom. Her eyes were filled with venom, but also a pathetic, desperate plea.
I didn't smile. I didn't gloat. I just looked through her, as if she were a ghost, turned my back, and walked out of the courtroom into the bright California sun.
