Chapter 8 - The Weight of Justice
Two weeks later, the front page of the Chicago Tribune bore a headline that shook the Midwest to its foundations:
WESTWOOD EMPIRE COLLAPSES: MATRIARCH AND FORMER FIANCÉE ARRESTED IN 3-YEAR-OLD MURDER PLOT.
The trial was swift, brutal, and entirely one-sided. Armed with the micro-SD card, the offshore bank transfer records, and the confession of the mechanic who had been paid fifty thousand dollars to sabotage Claire’s steering linkage, federal prosecutors secured guilty verdicts on all counts within four days of jury selection.
Margaret Westwood was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole at a maximum-security federal penitentiary in West Virginia.
Madison Cole received forty years, her social standing completely obliterated, her name wiped from every corporate registry and philanthropic board in the country.
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The Westwood holding company was completely restructured. Adrian placed Natalie at the head of the corporate governance board, ensuring that Claire’s vision of ethical transparency and community reinvestment finally became the bedrock of the family’s legacy.
And at the sprawling estate in Lake Forest, the heavy iron gates were opened wide, not to wealthy socialites and corrupt politicians, but to laughter, light, and life.
