Chapter 6
788words
Gregory received ten years for tax fraud, illegal business operations, and a host of other financial crimes involving millions. Vivian couldn't escape justice either, drawing a five-year sentence for embezzlement and document forgery.
I didn't attend the sentencing.
Word reached me that Rachel suffered a complete breakdown in the courtroom and was committed to a psychiatric facility. The once-mighty Woods family vanished overnight—their mansion, luxury cars, and assets all auctioned to settle their massive debts.
Six months after Gregory and Vivian began serving their sentences, on a crisp autumn afternoon, I drove alone to the suburban prison complex.
The visitation room felt oppressive, institutional. I sat calmly on the hard plastic chair, waiting.
Gregory appeared first. The prison uniform hung loosely on his frame, his cropped hair showing more gray than I remembered. His once-proud posture had collapsed into a defeated slouch, his face a roadmap of exhaustion and resignation. When he saw me through the glass—composed and unmistakably successful—his dull eyes widened in shock before he dropped his gaze, shoulders trembling slightly.
I lifted the phone receiver, my voice carrying clearly through the connection: "Prison seems to have given you time to reflect."
Gregory's body shuddered, but he kept his eyes fixed on the scratched counter.
"I'm here to tell you two things," I stated matter-of-factly. "First, Rachel has suffered a complete mental breakdown. After your sentencing, she was committed to Westside Psychiatric. Her condition is unstable—mostly she just mutters to herself."
Gregory's head snapped up, eyes instantly bloodshot, lips quivering wordlessly. The woman he'd depended on and indulged for decades, his partner in cruelty, had not escaped punishment. This news seemed to devastate him more than his own imprisonment.
"Second," I continued without pause, my voice level but carrying undeniable weight, "I founded Moonlight Tech. You wouldn't have read about it since tech is worlds away from building materials. But you should know its current valuation exceeds the Woods family's peak worth by a hundred times. And growing."
Gregory's pupils contracted to pinpoints, the blood draining from his face—the look of a man whose entire worldview had just imploded. His mouth worked silently, as if trying to speak, to rage, but all that emerged was a heavy sigh laden with bitter regret as his head sank to his chest.
I looked past him, nodding to the guard that we were finished.
Next, Vivian was led in.
Unlike Gregory's defeated demeanor, Vivian radiated defiance and denial. The shapeless prison uniform couldn't mask the hatred in her eyes, though when she registered my composed presence, a flicker of fear broke through her facade.
"Lucy! Come to gloat?" She snatched up the receiver, her voice shrill with forced bravado.
"Gloat?" I raised an eyebrow slightly. "You're not worth the effort. I'm here to ensure you understand exactly why you're in this situation."
I disregarded her venomous glare and calmly delivered the same news I'd given Gregory: "Rachel, your mother, has been committed to a psychiatric facility. She's had a complete breakdown."
"You're lying!" Vivian leapt up like she'd been electrocuted, only to be firmly pushed back down by the guard behind her. She screamed into the receiver, "You did this to her! You monster!"
"As for me," I leaned slightly forward, meeting her contorted expression through the barrier, enunciating each word precisely, "I am now the founder and CEO of Moonlight Tech. That elite social circle you desperately craved? They now compete for my investments and beg for invitations to my events."
I watched the blood drain from her face, rage giving way to stunned disbelief, and delivered my parting shot with clinical detachment: "Vivian, everything you and your mother schemed and clawed for, everything you crushed me to obtain—I now possess a thousand times over. While you count the days behind bars."
With that, I placed the receiver back in its cradle with a decisive click.
On the other side of the glass, Vivian shattered completely. She pounded against the partition, her face twisted in a silent scream, her fury and despair muted by the barrier between us.
I rose, straightened my jacket, and walked out without a backward glance at her disintegrating composure.
Years later, I graduated with honors from an Ivy League university. Under my leadership, Moonlight Tech revolutionized the industry with groundbreaking technologies and innovative business models, cementing my reputation as the youngest tech mogul in the country.
Those people and their cruelty had faded to insignificance, like dust swept from my path.
My eyes remained fixed on the vast universe of possibilities ahead.
The thorns that once pierced me had withered away. And my crown, forged from code and resilience, shone with undimmed brilliance.
