Chapter 12: The Fall of the House of Vance
In June, the federal trial concluded with devastating speed.
Faced with the cryptographic forensic evidence and the testimony of his former gambling associates, Austin Vance entered a blind guilty plea to all twelve felony counts.
He was sentenced to twelve years in federal penitentiary with zero possibility of parole, along with $4.8 million in mandatory restitution.
Margaret Vance was forced to sell the Palmer Hall Estate and liquidate the family’s assets to pay the outstanding civil penalties and tax liens. She moved to an anonymous apartment complex in northern Georgia, permanently ostracized from the social circles she had once ruled with vanity.
Nora read the final sentencing report on her tablet on the screened porch, while the evening breeze rustled the pecan leaves above.
She felt no vindictive triumph, no bitter satisfaction.
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She simply closed the document, deleted the archive from her desktop, and walked into the kitchen to help Martha and Daisy bake fresh peach cobbler.
Justice had done its work. The storm had passed.
