The scandal became public within weeks, and the collapse of my family, when it came, was total, and it was administered entirely by the law rather than by me, which was exactly how I wanted it.

My father was indicted on multiple financial charges, with prosecutors adding obstruction allegations after they recovered the documents from the storage facility, the ones that proved he had hidden the valuables he then claimed had burned.

My mother avoided the harshest sentence by cooperating with the investigation, trading her testimony for leniency, but she lost her board positions, her charity appointments, and the entire social circle whose good opinion had been the organizing principle of her life.

Their company collapsed under the weight of lawsuits and creditor claims.