Chapter 18 - THE TRIAL

The federal trial lasted seven weeks.

Ambrose survived the attack.

Unfortunately for him.

He testified against Victor.

Victor testified against Victoria.

Victoria testified against Ambrose.

Everyone betrayed everyone.

It was almost elegant.

I testified for two days.

Ambrose’s attorney asked about my relationship with Daniel.

“Are you sleeping with him?”

The prosecutor objected.

The judge looked furious.

I answered anyway.

“No.”

Daniel coughed in the gallery.

For one stupid second, I nearly laughed.

Then the attorney asked whether I hated Victoria.

“Yes.”

The courtroom went still.

He smiled.

“Thank you.”

I continued.

“I also hated broccoli when I was twelve.”

His smile disappeared.

“Hating someone doesn’t change bank records.”

The judge told me to answer only the question.

I apologized.

Not very sincerely.

My mother testified.

Victor could not look at her.

She described waking after the crash.

Being told her husband and child were dead.

Starting over with holes in her memory.

Then learning nineteen years later that her daughter had been alive the entire time.

The jury cried.

So did I.

Victoria testified last.

She tried to blame everyone.

Dad.

Ambrose.

Victor.

Me.

Then the prosecutor played the audio from the night I escaped.

My voice.

Please don’t make me go in there.

Victoria.

You will do what this family needs.

Then the slap.

Victoria closed her eyes.

The prosecutor asked.

“Was that your voice?”

“Yes.”

“Did Emily consent to being locked in that room?”

Victoria whispered.

“No.”

There it was.

Not everything.

Enough.

The jury convicted Ambrose on nearly every major count.

Victor too.

Victoria was convicted of fraud, conspiracy, unlawful imprisonment, witness tampering, and multiple financial crimes.

The poisoning-related homicide charge was harder.

The jury deadlocked.

I thought I would be furious.

I wasn’t.

Dad had warned me about perfect proof.

I understood now.

Then the state announced a separate prosecution.

New toxicology evidence had been recovered from preserved tissue.

Victoria’s face finally broke.

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