Chapter 14 - Corinne Was Finally Forced to Answer to the Right People
The criminal case took time, but not forever.
Fraud.
False imprisonment.
Coercion.
Conspiracy.
Abuse of a child.
Every charge came from real records, real witnesses, and real choices Corinne had made over years, not hours.
When she finally appeared in court, she looked smaller than she ever had at the estate.
Not harmless.
Just stripped of stagecraft.
Her attorneys tried to suggest she had acted out of emotional instability. They hinted that Elena had been fragile and difficult. They tried to paint Sadie’s memories as confusion and Daphne’s loyalty as manipulation.
None of it held.
Because the evidence was too structured.
Too deliberate.
Corinne had not snapped.
She had planned.
What surprised me most was not her lack of remorse.
It was her anger.
Even at the end, she looked at Elena as though she were the one who had ruined everything.
Some people never believe they did wrong.
They only believe they were finally stopped.
When the hearing ended, Sadie was not there. Elena and I had chosen to protect her from that room.
But later that night, when Sadie asked if Corinne could come back, Elena knelt beside her wheelchair and answered clearly:
“No. She can’t hurt this family anymore.”
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For the first time in a long time, Sadie believed an answer the moment she heard it.
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