My Fake Death Was The Punchline To His Cruel Joke Chapter 19
The deputies hauled him to his feet, but he was still fighting, his voice cracking.
“Mara!”
My steps faltered for a fraction of a second.
“I love you.”
He was sobbing now, the words torn from him, a confession that had come far too late.
“If… if there’s a next life, I’ll love you right… Please, just forgive me.”
Leo looked at me, waiting for a sign.
I just said, “His testimony was his legal obligation. It wasn’t a declaration of love.”
“What we had is over.”
Then I turned and walked away, and this time, I didn’t look back.
Bennett was later sentenced to prison on multiple charges, including criminal harassment and conspiracy, with mandatory psychological treatment. The Shaw family’s name was mud in Newport.
Camille’s appeal was denied.
By then, the Mara who had been defined by Bennett for three years had been left for dead in that hundredth joke.
The person who survived was Elena Ortiz.
I returned to Denver and poured myself into my work. With the money from the settlement and my own savings, I bought a penthouse apartment downtown, overlooking the park.
On the day of the closing, I took the pen and signed my full name on the deed:
Mara Elena Ortiz.
Leo slid a tablet across the table.
On the screen was the evidence index from the cloud album, returned to me by the AG’s office.
The initial bet. The guest list for test ninety-seven. The sea of phones in the video from test ninety-nine. Every item was linked to a name.
Aside from the two already in prison, the rest had hired a powerful law firm and sent a settlement offer.
They were willing to pay a staggering amount of money.
There was only one condition: that I drop all claims against them, destroy the album, and never speak of the ninety-nine tests again.
Leo asked, “Your response?”
I picked up the stylus and wrote two words.
[Offer declined.]