Chapter 13: Scar and Sentence
The scars settled into their permanent geography by the end of the first year.
They pulled when the weather changed. They required lotion, shade, and the occasional follow-up with Lena. They did not require narrative. I gave them none. Physical therapy tapered into ordinary strength training. The temporary apartment became a lease I chose rather than a protective placement. Marcus finalized the last of the immediate recovery orders; the remaining civil claims moved onto a slower calendar that no longer needed my weekly attention.
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Vivian’s sentence continued without early relief. Daniel’s disposition left him with a record, financial judgments, and a permanent protective order that outlasted any residual impulse to explain himself. I received the formal notices through Marcus and filed them with the rest of the closed correspondence. No visits were requested. None would have been granted.
The irrevocable trust operated as it always had—quietly, solely under my direction, untouched by the years someone else had spent believing it was already theirs.
