Chapter 9 - THE FINAL VERDICT
The day of the trial finally arrived.
Julian sat at the defense table,
looking smaller than I remembered.
He had lost weight,
and his hair was thinning.
He looked like a man who had realized too late,
that he wasn't as smart as he thought he was.
I sat in the front row,
wearing a suit that made me feel like armor.
When I took the stand,
I looked him directly in the eye.
I told the story of the airport.
I played the recording.
I showed the forgery.
The jury watched him with expressions of disgust.
His lawyer tried to paint me as a "scorned woman,"
looking for revenge.
But the data didn't lie.
The bank records didn't have emotions.
The forged signatures didn't have a vendetta.
They were just facts.
And facts are undeniable.
The deliberation only took two hours.
Guilty on all counts.
Grand larceny,
forgery,
and conspiracy.
When the judge read the sentence,
Julian slumped in his chair.
Five to ten years in state prison.
I didn't feel joy.
I felt a profound sense of peace.
Justice isn't always about winning,
it's about the restoration of balance.
The scales had been tipped for too long,
and now they were level.
As they led him away,
he tried to speak to me.
"Elena,
please,"
he whispered.
I didn't even stop to listen.
I walked out of the courtroom,
into the bright afternoon sun.
Leo was waiting for me on the steps.
"It's over,"
he said,
giving me a hug.
"No,"
I replied,
May you like
looking out at the city.
"It's just beginning."
