Dead Before She Cared - Chapter 8

Chapter 8 A few months later. Federal District Court. "Defendant Chloe. As a team medic, you violated medical ethics, falsified medical reports, and engaged in illegal abuse leading to death." The judge's voice was stone-cold. "Sentenced to eight years in prison. No parole. Immediate remand!" "No! I was forced! I want to appeal! Valerie made me do it! You can't do this to me!" Chloe lost it completely, kicking her legs on the floor. The police ignored her screams. They dragged her out like a dead weight, her metal cuffs scraping loudly against the tiles.

At the adjacent defense table, Valerie sat frozen in an orange jumpsuit. In just days, the once untouchable second-in- command looked like a hollow skeleton. Drool dripped from the corner of her mouth. Her hands clawed uselessly at thin air. "Gemma... the gallery... Mommy bought you the whole street..." She giggled, her eyes blank and lifeless. The night the autopsy came out, she lost every piece of her sanity. When Sylvan stripped her power and kicked her out of the family core, her mind snapped for good. Two doctors in white coats stepped up, handing an evaluation to the judge.

"Defendant Valerie suffers from severe paranoid schizophrenia and lacks mental competency. Immediate transfer to a locked psychiatric facility for lifelong care." The cold handcuffs were swapped for tight straitjacket straps. They strapped Valerie into a wheelchair. Laughing and crying at the same time, she was pushed down the long hallway. Her only home for the rest of her life was a white, windowless room. The feared second-in-command was now just a penniless lunatic. Her dreams of power lived only in her delusions. The next day. The estate's private cemetery.

Sunlight cut through dense trees, hitting the white marble headstone. In the photo, I wore a white dress, smiling bright and pure. Bellflowers covered the grass, swaying gently in the breeze. Sylvan stood alone in a black suit before my grave. He bent down. Using the large hands that once held mine, he gently wiped dust off the marble, then placed a bouquet of white jasmine at the base. "Kid," Sylvan's voice was terribly raspy. "I got justice for you. Are you happy?" "Forgive Dad for being too busy. I should've protected you... If I could go back..." He let out a heavy sigh.

He straightened his back, staring into the trees behind the grave. My soul hovered in the air. Looking at the man who gave me shelter in my short life, I smiled, finally at peace. I floated down beside him, leaning gently against his shoulder. He couldn't see me, but I knew he could hear the wind. "Thank you, Dad." I whispered my goodbye near his ear. Abeam of golden sunlight pierced the clouds, wrapping around me. The coldness, the agonizing pain, and the suffocating terror vanished completely. I wasn't the weak girl with a failing heart anymore. I wasn't a pawn for my mother's power games.