Chapter 16: The Fall of the Patriarch
Chapter 16: The Fall of the Patriarch
Two months later, Richard Bennett’s federal trial concluded with a swift guilty plea. Realizing that his own son’s testimony and the forensic accounting data left him with zero chance of acquittal, Richard accepted a plea deal to avoid spending the rest of his natural life behind bars.
He was sentenced to fifteen years in a federal penitentiary and ordered to pay eighteen million dollars in restitution.
To satisfy the restitution order, the federal government liquidated everything. The Gold Coast mansion, the vacation home in Aspen, the art collection, the offshore accounts—everything was seized and auctioned off.
The name Bennett & Associates was scraped off the glass facade of the skyscraper downtown. The firm dissolved overnight, leaving a legacy of corruption and ruin.
On the day my father was transferred to the federal facility, Clara Sterling received a letter forwarded to her office. It was from Richard, addressed to me.
Clara handed it to me. "You don't have to read it if you don't want to, Evelyn."
I opened it anyway. It was written on cheap prison paper in a shaky, old man's handwriting.
Evelyn, you’ve had your revenge. You’ve destroyed your brother, your mother, and your father. I hope you are happy living with the knowledge that you broke this family apart over a simple mistake. We did everything for you. We gave you shelter, an education, a name. And you threw us to the wolves.
I smiled slightly, walked over to the shredder in Clara’s office, and dropped the paper inside. Watch it turn into confetti.
May you like
"He still doesn't get it," I told Clara. "He thinks he’s the victim."
"They always do, Evelyn," Clara said, tapping a fresh set of documents on her desk. "But now, it's time for the final act. Our civil settlement is ready."
