Chapter 9 - The Reckoning
The trials were a media spectacle, despite our best efforts to keep them quiet.
The FBI raided my father's house, finding the hidden IP address exactly where Natalie said it would be.
They seized the server, permanently securing all the stolen data and protecting the victims' identities.
My father took a plea deal to avoid a prolonged public trial.
He admitted to financial fraud and money laundering.
When the judge sentenced him to eight years in federal prison, Dad looked back at the gallery, searching for my mother.
She wasn't there.
She had filed for divorce the day after the retirement party and refused to ever speak to him again.
Natalie, however, fought the charges to the bitter end.
She stood in the courtroom in a designer suit paid for by a public defender, glaring at me from the defense table.
I took the stand, recounting every detail of my fertility struggles and the profound violation of discovering her crimes.
Dr. Evans testified next, detailing exactly how Natalie had orchestrated the entire black-market operation.
It took the jury less than four hours to return a guilty verdict on all thirty-two counts.
The judge showed absolutely no mercy during sentencing.
"Natalie Vance, your actions demonstrate a sociopathic disregard for human life and the sanctity of family," the judge declared.
"You weaponized your sister's pain for financial gain."
He sentenced her to thirty-five years in federal prison without the possibility of early parole.
Natalie didn't scream this time.
She just stared blankly ahead as the bailiffs placed her in handcuffs and led her away.
As I walked out of the courthouse with Luke, the bright sunlight felt warmer than it had in years.
The cancer had finally been cut out of my family tree.
But the most difficult part of the journey was still waiting for us.
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We had to figure out what our future looked like with a daughter who was legally ours, but emotionally belonged to someone else.
That afternoon, we drove back to the Sterling tech campus for a final meeting.
