I was thinking that I had come to that house weeks ago to gain a family, and had lost one that was never real, and had walked out instead with something better and truer: a sister I had chosen, forged in the one fire that reveals who people actually are.

The months after were long — grand jury testimony, depositions, receivership, the double-mortgaged properties liquidated, creditors lined up in bankruptcy court.

Yvaine’s father stabilized once he was entirely out of the Pembrooks’ reach.

None of the aftermath was dramatic, and I have come to think that is exactly as it should be.

There was no single cinematic verdict, no gavel-strike moment of justice; there was a long, grinding, procedural unwinding of everything the Pembrooks had built, conducted by grand juries and forensic accountants and bankruptcy trustees over many patient months.

Pembrook Holdings went into federal receivership.