Chapter 8 - THOMAS BENNETT
Thomas wanted a plea deal.
Prosecutors had evidence.
Calls.
Payments.
Raymond’s testimony.
Margaret’s testimony.
Trust records.
He eventually admitted organizing the original kidnapping.
He insisted he never intended Ethan to remain gone.
Rachel hated that sentence.
Intent becomes a comforting blanket adults wrap around foreseeable harm.
He planned twenty-four hours.
A fake ransom.
Cash.
Then return.
Instead, Raymond saw opportunity.
Everything expanded.
Thomas ran.
Rachel attended sentencing but did not speak long.
“You were Ethan’s uncle.”
Thomas cried.
“You knew exactly whose hand you were paying someone to take.”
Silence.
“Whatever you intended after that stopped mattering the moment you chose him as currency.”
Done.
He received a significant sentence.
Raymond too.
Margaret received substantial consequences shaped differently by cooperation, financial offenses, concealment, and her role.
Rachel did not track every year obsessively.
Prison arithmetic does not rebuild childhood.
Ethan never attended.
His choice.
May you like
He spent sentencing day building a model airplane with Emma.
Better.
