CHAPTER 10
Six months later, the summer sun shone bright and warm over Lake Minnetonka, illuminating the clear, sparkling waters near our new lakefront home.
My thirteen-year-old daughter, Max, was laughing barefoot on the wooden dock, throwing a tennis ball to our new golden retriever puppy as the lake breeze rustled through the tall oak trees.
The final court settlement had been signed three weeks prior.
Joshua had pled guilty to federal wire fraud and perjury to avoid a longer sentence, receiving a four-year term in a federal correctional facility, while every single dollar of the four point five million estate was completely restored to Max and me.
CR Strategic Consulting was liquidated, Joshua’s executive career was permanently destroyed, and Cheyenne was facing two years of supervised probation and full restitution fees.
I walked down to the dock carrying two glasses of iced tea, handing one to Max as she sat on the edge, dipping her feet into the cool water.
"Mom," Max said, looking up at me with bright, happy eyes that held no lingering shadows of the storm we had survived. "Do you think we're going to be okay here?"
I sat down beside her, wrapping my arm around her shoulders, looking out across the calm, wide open lake stretching toward the horizon.
May you like
"We aren't just going to be okay, sweetheart," I smiled, taking a sip of my cold tea as the warm sun kissed our faces. "We're going to thrive."
I was no longer the exhausted, invisible wife staying up until sunrise in a quiet house in Plymouth; I was a woman who had fought for her truth, reclaimed her power, and built a beautiful, unbreakable future for the daughter I loved more than life itself.
