Chapter 5: The Reconstruction
The trial was long, but justice was surgical. Harrison was sentenced to twelve years in federal prison, and Victoria was handed an eight-year sentence for conspiracy and fraud. The estate was sold by the government to satisfy the claims of the hundreds of families whose savings had been decimated by Harrison’s schemes.
I was left with nothing of the Sterling name—and that was exactly what I wanted. I used the small, independent savings I had hidden away long before the marriage fell apart to start my own firm—a consultancy dedicated to forensic accounting for victims of domestic financial abuse.
I became the voice for the women who were told, just as I was, that they lacked the "grace" to understand high finance. The irony was not lost on me: the woman they thought they had discarded had become the one person capable of holding them accountable.
