Chapter 12 - Kendra’s Bargain
Kendra pleaded guilty to financial fraud and receipt of stolen property.
Her cooperation reduced her sentence.
Before sentencing, she asked to speak with me.
We met behind glass.
She looked different without makeup.
Younger.
More frightened.
“I hated you,” she said.
“You did not know me.”
“I hated what Victor said you represented.”
“What was that?”
“Need.”
“He said you depended on him for everything.”
“He said women like you turned men into prisoners.”
“And you believed him?”
“I wanted to.”
Kendra admitted she had discovered my identity three months before the slap.
She found a photograph of me with Arthur at a private charity event.
She confronted Eleanor.
Eleanor told her to remain silent.
“Why?”
“Because they planned to use the fraud money and leave before your father moved against them.”
“Where?”
“Monaco.”
“Victor promised to take me.”
“He opened the Zurich account in your name so police would follow you.”
Kendra nodded.
“I know that now.”
She handed investigators a final recording.
Victor and Eleanor discussed what would happen if I refused to disappear.
Victor said:
“She has no one.”
“We can make her look unstable.”
Eleanor answered:
“If that fails, accidents happen in the rain.”
The assault might not have been the final stage.
If Russell had not arrived, if I had remained outside longer, another plan could have followed.
A car.
A fall.
A disappearance blamed on heartbreak.
The recording strengthened attempted conspiracy charges.
Kendra received six years.
Before guards took her away, she asked:
“Do you feel sorry for me?”
“No.”
She flinched.
I continued.
“But I do not need you destroyed beyond what justice requires.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“No.”
“It is better.”
May you like
I left without forgiving her.
Forgiveness was not the price of refusing cruelty.
