Chapter 9 - THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE
The trial lasted eighteen months.
Every secret came out.
Every fraudulent transfer.
Every altered record.
Every bribe.
Every disappearance.
Every attempt to manipulate the Vance family.
Marcus was convicted.
Victor was convicted.
The corrupt lawyers lost their licenses.
The financial executives lost everything.
Properties were seized.
Offshore accounts were frozen.
The stolen money was returned.
The family empire survived.
But the old empire was gone.
My father dismantled it.
He divided the companies.
Placed them under independent management.
And established strict protections preventing future family members from secretly controlling beneficiaries.
The mansion where I had grown up became a foundation headquarters.
The room where I had been forced to wear bandages became a children's library.
The old guard station outside my childhood bedroom became a scholarship office.
I kept one thing.
The mirror.
The same mirror in which I had finally seen my face on my wedding night.
I placed it in the center of the foundation's main hall.
A plaque underneath read:
NO CHILD SHOULD EVER BE TAUGHT TO HATE THE FACE THEY WERE BORN WITH.
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Thousands of children would eventually pass beneath it.
And every time I saw one stop to look at their reflection, I remembered the little girl I had once been.
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