Chapter 13 - The Cost of the Truth|
The first indictments came six weeks after the wedding.
By then, Naomi understood that consequences arrived in envelopes, hearing dates, and questions people sometimes had to answer more than once.
The financial records had been compared against bank transfers and original company files.
People who had been told their memories were unreliable found those memories supported by dates and amounts.
Edmund faced charges arising from the fraud and the attempt to intimidate witnesses, including his own family.
Duly was charged for his role in the financial scheme and the wider criminal business the records exposed.
Others were charged as the investigation continued.
Their cooperation would matter.
It would not erase what they had done.
Newspaper photographs placed Naomi between the words bride and scandal so often that she began avoiding the news.
One headline suggested that jealousy had caused the investigation.
Mara asked whether she wanted to respond.
Naomi considered it for a day.
Then she approved two sentences.
I left my marriage voluntarily.
Questions about money owed to injured workers and their families deserve answers from the people responsible for it.
She returned to the shop after the statement was released.
There were invoices to finish.
Through the civil proceedings, an independent receiver took control of Ward Freight's finances while the claims were sorted out.
The trucks continued running under supervision.
Rosa stayed in payroll and began sending payment notices that contained actual dates.
Recovery would take time, and some losses could never be repaired with money.
Naomi's own distributions stopped while the company dealt with what it owed.
Mara explained each development without pretending the inheritance was separate from the damage around it.
One afternoon, Angela Mendoza asked to meet her.
They sat in the office of the attorney representing Luis's family.
Angela carried a folder with worn corners and a photograph of her son tucked inside the cover.
He had outgrown the Little League uniform.
Naomi had rehearsed an apology in the car.
When Angela sat down, the polished version became impossible to say.
“I believed my father when he said you had been taken care of.”
Angela studied her.
“Most people did.”
“I should have asked.”
“Yes.”
Naomi accepted the answer.
It was harder and cleaner than reassurance.
Angela opened her folder and pointed to a letter confirming an initial recovery payment.
“This will clear the hospital account.”
Her fingers rested against the paper.
“That matters to us.”
Naomi nodded.
She did not call the money help.
It had been owed before either of them entered that room.
At home, another letter waited from Edmund's civil attorneys.
They proposed an arrangement that would preserve much of her inheritance if she signed a statement describing the disputed approvals as misunderstandings.
Mara had already explained that no private bargain could simply cancel a criminal prosecution.
Naomi read the proposal once.
“The statement would be false,” she said.
“Then that's the answer,” Mara replied.
The bridal jewelry was returned through the attorneys that winter.
Naomi did not open the box.
She authorized its sale and directed her proceeds toward the families' recovery fund, with no announcement and no condition attached.
The payment would not replace the restitution the companies and defendants owed.
It was simply the use she chose for objects she no longer wanted.
Helen rented a small apartment near June's shop.
Their first dinner together lasted forty minutes.
Their second lasted an hour.
When Helen began defending Edmund's behavior out of habit, Naomi said she needed them to stop for the evening.
Her mother put on her coat and returned the following week with an apology that contained no explanation about difficult men.
Meanwhile, June handed Naomi a larger share of the shop's commissions.
The work was slow, and she made mistakes that cost time instead of affection.
May you like
When a repaired atlas finally opened flat beneath her hands, she called her aunt over to see it.
For several minutes, neither of them discussed the case.
