Chapter 21 - ELEANOR’S APPEAL
Eleanor appealed.
One corporate-misuse count was narrowed.
Her restitution changed.
The core fraud convictions remained.
Online headlines called it a win.
My father said:
“Accuracy is not leniency.”
I looked at him.
“Who taught you that?”
“Maya.”
Of course.
Eleanor’s health declined in custody.
She eventually transferred to a medical facility.
Julian visited once.
Lily did not.
No one asked her to.
Eleanor wrote:
I wanted you to inherit Sterling power.
Lily, then seventeen, replied privately in a notebook she never mailed:
I wanted a grandmother who picked me up.
That sentence destroyed me.
May you like
She kept the page.
No courtroom needed it.
