Chapter 10 - The Day the Truth Reached the Court
Vale was arrested outside a motel.
He denied everything.
He blamed the accountants.
Then the drivers.
Then my father.
His story changed with every interview.
The documents did not.
Months later, I entered the courthouse.
My hands were damp.
June squeezed my shoulder.
Finn sat in the second row.
Roman sat farther back.
He did not approach me.
When I testified, I spoke slowly.
I described the debt collectors.
The unpaid wages.
The forged signatures.
The nights I feared losing my room.
Vale's attorney questioned my memory.
I held up Dad's letter.
"I remember his handwriting."
The judge allowed the document into evidence.
An expert explained the forged signatures.
A forensic accountant traced the money.
Tomas described the warehouse meeting.
Then Roman testified.
He admitted his failure to supervise Vale.
He admitted he had believed false records.
He did not excuse himself.
When court recessed, I sat outside.
The wind lifted my hair.
I watched strangers cross the square.
Nobody knew my name.
May you like
Nobody knew what I had survived.
And for once, that felt peaceful.
