The Trial Of The Cross Family
Chapter 16 - The Trial Of The Cross Family
Richard and Victoria were tried separately.
Richard faced attempted murder, kidnapping, identity fraud, financial crimes, and conspiracy. Victoria faced kidnapping, medical abuse, fraud, coercion, and obstruction.
The evidence filled weeks.
Clinic charts.
Transfer orders.
The hidden camera.
Richard’s drives.
The switched dental records.
Thomas’s letters.
Victoria’s threat to Emma.
The midnight transport attempt.
Richard testified against Victoria to reduce his sentence. Victoria testified against Richard. Their partnership ended the way it operated: each treating the other as leverage.
Thomas attended only essential days.
Julian and Grace alternated beside him. Emma testified about finding Thomas and the threats that followed. Nurse Claire described years of controlled medication and blocked communication.
The clinic director claimed he believed Thomas’s family requested privacy for therapeutic reasons. Records showed he received bonuses when Thomas failed memory assessments.
The jury convicted Richard on every major charge.
Victoria was also convicted, though the court considered evidence of Richard’s early threats during sentencing. She received less time than he did and more than Julian expected.
Before she was taken away, Victoria asked to see her children.
Grace refused.
Julian agreed only through glass with attorneys present.
His mother sat on the other side wearing plain clothing, no jewelry, no title.
“Will you bring Thomas?” she asked.
“No.”
“Does he hate me?”
“That is his private truth.”
Victoria looked at Julian.
“And you?”
He took time.
“I love the mother I remember. I do not trust the woman who made those memories possible by imprisoning my father.”
She began crying.
Julian did not move closer.
“I hope you tell the truth where you are going,” he said.
“Will you visit?”
“I don’t know.”
For once, he did not offer certainty to make pain easier.
He left the room.
Emma waited outside.
Julian held her without explanation, returning to the embrace that began in their bedroom when anger first broke open.
This time, no hidden camera watched them.
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Marcus had removed every unauthorized device from their home.
Silence finally belonged to them.
