He Deceived Me, So I Destroyed His Family's Legacy novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: Legacy
The judge moved the sentencing to the fifth week after my surgery, so I could walk into the courtroom on my own legs.
I wore the navy suit again, and Jonas walked a half step behind me with his hand near my back and not on it.
Poppy stayed home with a nurse and a crossword, and she made me promise to call.
Lawson stood at the defense table in a county-issue suit that did not fit.
The gray was gone from his face, and what was left looked older than his years.
Marissa had taken a plea two weeks before, and she sat alone in the last row with a probation officer.
She did not look at me, and I did not look at her.
"Mr. Draper," the judge said. "You've been convicted of forging a trust instrument, defrauding the Wyndham Family Trust, and conspiring in the assaults on your wife."
"Do you wish to speak before sentence?"
Lawson lifted his chin.
"I only ever tried to protect her dignity," he said.
A sound went through the gallery, short and ugly.
The judge took off her glasses.
"Mr. Draper," she said, "I have read your brother's statement and I have heard the recording."
"There is nothing in this record that preserved anyone's dignity but the victim's, and she did it herself."
"I sentence you to nine years in state prison."
Lawson turned his head and looked for me.
I held his eyes, and I felt nothing, and I let him see that I felt nothing.
They took him out through the side door, and he did not look back.
Jonas's shoulders came down beside me.
"Ma'am," he said quietly.
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