Chapter 13
Adrian eventually pleaded guilty.
There was no dramatic courtroom confession.
No speech about family.
His attorney negotiated based on documentary evidence, cooperation, restitution, and the attempted kidnapping scheme.
Adrian admitted creating the plan to use Elodie as leverage.
He admitted arranging Sabine’s introduction to Cassian.
He admitted participating in the old billing fraud.
He surrendered remaining Vale assets that could be used toward restitution.
None of that made him noble.
It made the final accounting more accurate.
Sabine’s plea came later.
She admitted helping conceal fraudulent vendor payments.
She admitted obtaining Elodie’s passport without authorization.
She admitted participating in the plan to remove the child internationally.
She admitted putting Elodie inside the luggage.
Cassian did not attend either plea hearing.
Rebecca did.
“You don’t want to see it?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Cassian looked toward Elodie playing outside.
“I already know what they did.”
He had spent too much of his life confusing witnessing punishment with obtaining justice.
The important part was not watching Sabine stand before a judge.
The important part was that Elodie slept through the night again.
Still, one confrontation remained.
Sabine requested permission to return several items belonging to Elodie.
Books.
Clothes.
A stuffed rabbit kept at Sabine’s apartment.
Drawings.
Rebecca arranged for everything to be transferred through attorneys.
At the bottom of one box was a sealed envelope addressed to Cassian.
He opened it.
The letter was short.
Sabine did not ask forgiveness.
She did not claim Adrian forced everything.
She wrote:
I loved you after entering your life for the wrong reason. I loved Elodie too. Those facts do not become noble because they became true later.
Then:
When Adrian said we could use Elodie to make you stop the audit, I told him no. Then I spent forty-eight hours finding reasons why yes might only be temporary. That is the part I will have to live with.
Cassian folded the letter.
Rebecca watched him.
“What are you going to do with it?”
“Nothing.”
May you like
He placed it back inside the envelope.
For once, nothing was enough.
