Chapter 4: The Final Verdict
Four months later, reporters crowded outside the federal courthouse in downtown Chicago.
Camera crews lined the entrance.
Every major local station wanted the story.
The trial itself never happened.
There wasn't any point.
The evidence was overwhelming.
Financial records.
Electronic transfers.
Recorded conversations.
Signed confessions.
One by one, every member of the family accepted plea agreements.
She sat quietly in the last row of the courtroom wearing a tailored black blazer.
Her posture never changed.
Neither did her expression.
Richard stood before the judge wearing an orange federal jail uniform instead of the custom suits he'd spent years collecting.
He looked older.
Smaller.
The confidence that once filled every room had disappeared.
The judge read the sentences.
Fifteen years in federal prison for Richard.
Five years for his wife.
Three years of probation and extensive community service for their son after cooperating with investigators.
His professional future was over before it had begun.
As U.S. Marshals escorted Richard from the courtroom, he stopped for one final look.
Their eyes met.
There was no regret.
No apology.
Only bitterness.
She didn't smile.
She didn't look away.
She simply gave the slightest nod.
Not out of victory.
Out of closure.
When she'd once said, We're all going to die together, she hadn't meant physically.
May you like
She meant the family they pretended to be.
That family ended the moment the truth came into the light.
