Chapter 4: The Trial
Chapter 4: The Trial
Four months later...
The courtroom was full.
Reporters lined the back wall.
The prosecutor presented photographs.
Medical records.
Luke's 911 recording.
Natalie's testimony.
Then Detective Harris introduced the journals.
The courtroom fell silent as page after page revealed Eleanor's obsession with control.
Her attorney argued she had simply been overprotective.
The jury disagreed.
After only three hours of deliberation...
They returned.
"Guilty."
On every count.
Eleanor stared at Luke.
"You chose her over your own mother."
Luke met her eyes calmly.
"No."
"I chose what was right."
The judge sentenced Eleanor to prison followed by mandatory psychiatric treatment.
As deputies led her away...
She looked smaller than Luke had ever seen her.
May you like
Not because prison had changed her.
Because the power she depended on was finally gone.
