Chapter 20 - The Last LieDerek chose the last lie.
Through counsel, he claimed Camille created the fraudulent scheme.
He said Alder Row was formed to help her.
He claimed she manipulated him emotionally.
He suggested his affair compromised his judgment.
When Allison heard that, she laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because Derek had finally run out of better stories.
Owen destroyed the claim with dates.
Alder Row had been formed before Camille’s financial crisis became severe.
Derek contacted Stoneharbor before the affair.
He photographed ownership documents before Camille took money.
He drafted sale models before she became romantically involved.
Camille was not the architect.
She was an accomplice recruited into a plan already moving.
The distinction did not make her innocent.
It made Derek’s final lie impossible.
Prosecutors confronted him with the timeline.
Within a week, his attorney requested plea discussions.
Allison learned through her lawyer.
“He’s negotiating?”
“Yes.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means he understands trial risk.”
Camille’s case remained separate.
She would likely face consequences too.
Allison accepted that.
By then, Grant Medical Properties had recovered $137,000 from frozen Alder Row accounts.
Another $68,000 was recovered from Derek’s brokerage assets.
Insurance coverage for employee dishonesty was under review.
Civil claims continued.
The money mattered.
But less than Allison once thought.
What mattered most was restoring the company without becoming paranoid.
She hired an independent CFO.
Created dual-approval thresholds.
Required annual outside audits.
Separated ownership decisions from daily accounting.
No spouse.
No sibling.
No single person would hold invisible power again.
At the first new governance meeting, Allison left Thomas’s chair empty.
Camille noticed.
“You could sit there.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“It’s not a throne.”
Camille looked down.
Allison continued.
“Dad made mistakes because everyone depended on him too much.”
Camille nodded.
“So did I.”
They approved the controls together.
Afterward, Camille handed Allison a small velvet box.
Inside was their mother’s ring.
The ring Camille had worn to the hospital.
Allison had noticed it while Camille sat on Derek’s lap.
At the time, that detail had cut deeply.
Their mother’s ring.
On Camille’s hand.
Against Allison’s husband’s shoulder.
“I shouldn’t have been wearing it,” Camille said.
“It belongs to you.”
“Mom left it to me.”
“Then it belongs to you.”
Camille closed the box.
“I don’t deserve it.”
Allison’s expression hardened.
“Stop doing that.”
“What?”
“Making me the judge of whether you deserve every piece of your life.”
Camille stared.
“The ring is yours. Your actions are yours too.”
Camille’s eyes filled.
“Keep both.”
For a moment, they almost smiled.
Then Mara called.
Derek had accepted a plea framework.
He would admit to felony theft and forgery-related conduct involving company funds and Allison’s signature.
The exact sentence would be decided later.
He would also agree to substantial restitution.
Stoneharbor had separately entered settlement discussions with Grant Medical Properties over its role in the attempted transaction.
The divorce negotiations were moving.
Camille asked, “Do you feel better?”
Allison considered it.
“No.”
Camille nodded.
“Me neither.”
That surprised them both.
Consequences were not healing.
They were only consequences.
Healing would require different work.
Allison walked to the window overlooking Wellington Medical Plaza in the distance.
The building stood in late-afternoon sunlight.
Still theirs.
Still occupied.
Still carrying their father’s name inside the lobby.
Her phone vibrated.
A final message from Derek before his attorney instructed him to stop direct contact.
I loved you.
Allison stared at it.
Then another.
I still do.
She did not answer.
May you like
Because love was no longer the question.
The question was what he had chosen to do while claiming it.
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