Chapter 10 - THE TRUTH COMES OUT
The trial lasted three weeks. Every day, I sat in the front row with Lily beside me—old enough now to understand bits of what had happened, young enough that I still shielded her from the worst details. Teddy sat in her lap throughout, his blue light dark, silent witness to everything.
Marcus sat at the defense table, calm and composed, denying everything. His lawyers painted him as a victim of Elena’s manipulation—a convenient, unbelievable story that fell apart the moment Teddy’s footage was played for the jury.
They saw Grace die. They heard Elena’s confession. They listened to the recordings from the boathouse. And then, in the final days of the trial, the prosecution played one last file from Teddy’s memory card—one even I hadn’t watched.
It was dated the day Grace died. Marcus stood beside her bed, thinking she was unconscious.
"You should have shared, Grace," he said quietly into the quiet room. "We could have been partners. But you chose him. You chose Adrian. And now… you lose."
He touched her hand gently, then turned and walked out.
The jury was silent. The courtroom was silent. Beside me, Lily squeezed my hand.
"He was mean to Mommy," she said clearly.
Those words, spoken from the heart of the child Marcus had tried to kill, seemed to weigh heavier than all the evidence combined.
The jury deliberated for four hours.
Guilty. On all counts.
Life imprisonment. No parole.
When the verdict was read, Marcus finally lost control. He stood up, pointed at me, and screamed across the room.
"You stole everything from me! My whole life! You were always the favorite! You got the wife, the money, the house—"
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"I got the family," I said, standing up to face him. "And you destroyed yours. That is the difference between us."
They led him away, shouting still, until the doors closed and he was gone.
