An aunt of Bruno’s — a woman who had once, at a holiday dinner, leaned over to advise me to be more submissive to my in-laws — called my lawyer, begging for the chance to testify against Indigo.

The loyalty they had demanded of me, and enforced with their fists, turned out to be a thing none of them had ever extended to anyone, including each other.

It was never a value.

It was only a leash, and it was only ever meant for me.

Chapter 18 — The Judgments

Nearly a year after the assault, the criminal and civil judgments were finalized.

Bruno was convicted of corporate fraud, grand larceny, and conspiracy, and received a multi-year sentence in a federal facility, along with mandatory orders of financial restitution.