Chapter 17 - The Final Plea
Back in Vermont, spring had finally exploded into vibrant color across the Green Mountains. The legal proceedings surrounding Vivian and Paige had concluded with permanent asset forfeiture, leaving neither woman with a single cent to her name. Their high-society friends had vanished like morning mist, refusing even to answer their collect phone calls from federal prison.
Vivian submitted a handwritten petition to the district court, begging for a personal meeting with Claire to ask for forgiveness before her permanent transfer to the maximum-security penitentiary in West Virginia.
Claire and I reviewed the request in our study. Claire looked at the stained paper, her expression calm and resolved.
"Do you want to see her?" I asked quietly.
May you like
"No," Claire replied, placing the letter calmly into the fireplace shredder, watching as the flames consumed the final desperate plea of a woman who had traded her soul for gold. "There is nothing left to say. Some bridges aren't meant to be rebuilt, Elias. Some fires burn themselves out completely."
I nodded in quiet approval, wrapping my arm around her shoulder as we watched the ashes drift up the chimney into the clear Vermont evening sky.
