Faced with a mountain of state and federal charges, Daniel broke. He took a plea for a fifteen-year sentence in a maximum-security penitentiary, pleading guilty to elder abuse, extortion, false imprisonment, and wire fraud.

Vanessa, arrogant to the end, refused a plea. She went to trial, tried to blame Daniel for everything, and lost in front of a jury disgusted by her cruelty.

She got eighteen years.

An emergency protective order voided the fraudulent Power of Attorney. The house in Oakridge, poisoned by everything that had happened in it, was sold.

We used the proceeds, along with the money clawed back from the offshore accounts, to start over.

Six months after the penitentiary doors closed on my brother, I took a formal leave from the capital.