Chapter 9 - The ReckoningThree months later, the dust had finally settled, and the winter snow began to dust the streets of Manhattan.
The fall of the house of Montgomery was swift and absolute.
The New York State Attorney General’s investigation into the Beatrice Montgomery Foundation yielded massive evidence of fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion. Beatrice Montgomery was arrested at her Connecticut estate, the images of her being led away in handcuffs by federal agents plastering every tabloid in the country. Her wealth was seized, her reputation ruined, and she was currently awaiting trial with no hope of a plea deal.
Preston didn't escape the fallout either. While he avoided prison by cooperating with the prosecution against his mother, his reputation in the tech world was completely dead. He was a pariah, unable to secure a single dollar of investment or a seat on any corporate board. He had moved out of New York, living in a small, rented apartment in New Jersey, completely forgotten by the high society that had once worshiped him.
I stood in my grandmother’s apartment in Brooklyn.
It was a modest, two-bedroom place filled with old books, mismatched furniture, and the warm scent of lavender. It was quiet, peaceful, and entirely mine. I had spent the weekend cleaning it, keeping the old wooden dining table where my grandmother used to serve me tea after school.
The doorbell rang.
I opened it to find my legal assistant, holding a package. "Mrs. Harris? This just arrived for you from the court."
I took the envelope and opened it. Inside were the finalized divorce papers, stamped with the seal of the State of New York.
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I was officially free. My name was once again Simone Harris.
I walked to the window, looking out at the Brooklyn Bridge stretching across the river. The bruise on my temple had long since faded, leaving no physical scar, but the strength I had found in that moment of pain was permanent.
