Chapter 5 - The Price of Survival
The legal proceedings were swift. Because I had documented every single instance of financial abuse and coercion, Harrison didn't have a leg to stand on. He was charged with tax evasion, fraud, and corporate espionage.
Patricia, stripped of her designer clothes and her social status, was forced to testify. She tried to blame me, but the court saw right through her. She was left with nothing but her memories of a life that had never actually belonged to her.
I sat in the back of the courtroom during the sentencing, feeling nothing but a profound sense of lightness. I had spent years walking on eggshells, afraid of the man who thought he owned me. Now, the courtroom was silent, and the judge was reading the verdict.
"Ten years," the judge said, closing the file.
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Harrison turned around to look at me, his eyes pleading for a mercy I didn't have. I simply stood up and walked out of the courtroom, leaving the past behind me.
I went straight to my favorite cafe, ordered a coffee, and sat by the window. I wasn't rich because of the divorce; I was rich because I had the brilliance to build an empire while they were busy spending my change.
