Chapter 9 - Ashes and EmpiresThe verdict took the jury less than forty-five minutes.
Guilty on all counts.
Attempted murder in the first degree, conspiracy to commit murder, and fraudulent tampering with controlled substances. The judge handed down a sentence of life without the possibility of parole, ensuring that Emily Shaw Moretti would spend the rest of her days looking at concrete walls instead of the Chicago skyline.
By sunset, the media storm had reached its peak. Headlines screamed from every digital billboard across Times Square and Michigan Avenue: THE MORETTI POISONER: SOCIETY QUEEN SENTENCED TO LIFE! BILLIONAIRE HUSBAND UNCOVERS SIX-YEAR DECEPTION!
I sat alone in the penthouse study, a glass of vintage Cabernet resting between my fingers. The city lights twinkled outside the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, indifferent to the drama that had played out beneath them.
The penthouse felt different now. The heavy, suffocating ghost that had haunted our dinners at Lumière was gone. Nicole's memory no longer felt like a tragedy wrapped in silence; it felt like a debt that had finally been settled.
My phone buzzed on the mahogany desk.
May you like
It was an email from the New York fertility clinic, containing an updated medical dossier and a follow-up consultation request.
I picked up the phone, unlocked the screen, and stared at my own reflection in the dark glass.
