Chapter 9 - THE RECLAMATION OF SOUL
The next few days were a whirlwind of restoration.
The emerald necklace was returned to me by a grim-faced police officer.
It had been taken from the mistress's neck as she was being booked for larceny.
Richard was currently being held on charges of financial racketeering and perjury.
The "shark" lawyer had turned on him,
trading information for a lesser sentence.
My mother's house,
the one Richard had forced me to sell,
was bought back by Alexander's company.
The furniture was being moved back in,
exactly as I remembered it.
But I didn't want to go back to the past.
I wanted to build a new future.
Alexander offered me a position at Vanguard,
a way to learn the business and secure my own wealth.
I accepted,
not out of a need for charity,
but out of a desire for power.
I would never be a victim again.
I would never let a man like Richard Sterling even breathe the same air as me.
The mistress sent me letters from jail,
begging for mercy.
I didn't even open them.
Richard tried to call,
using his one phone call to scream threats.
Alexander's team recorded it and added it to the evidence for his trial.
He was digging his own grave,
and I was happy to let him finish the job.
The $100 bill sat in a frame on my desk.
May you like
It was a reminder of the day I was worth nothing,
and the day I became everything.
