Chapter 17 - THE WIFE BEFORE ME SPEAKS
Amanda asked to give a victim-impact statement in the financial case.
She had spent eight years thinking silence purchased freedom.
Now she understood silence had simply left the door open.
Her statement was not dramatic.
That made it stronger.
She said:
“I do not blame Elena for what happened after me. I blame the people who learned the wrong lesson from my leaving quietly.”
Victoria stared at the table.
Amanda continued:
“When I left, you decided the problem was not coercion. The problem was that you waited too long to establish it.”
Then she looked at Julian.
“You were not a child.”
Julian cried.
“You were twenty-six.”
Important.
Victoria influenced him.
She did not operate his hands like machinery.
Amanda finished:
“I hope nobody after Elena has to discover the same family plan with her initials on it.”
There would be nobody after Elena.
At least not under the same system.
Because the system was now documented.
Exposed.
May you like
Broken.
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