The Verdict on My Husband the Judge: GUILTY novel Chapter 31

I’d already gotten early acceptance to MIT. But I took the SATs anyway that spring.

Hadn’t fully decided if I was going. Mostly just wanted to see how high I could score.

That’s when Dad showed up at my dorm.

Mom didn’t come. She never did anymore.

He had a bank card in his hand.

“All your scholarship money,” he said. “Competition winnings, awards, everything. It came to us while you were underage.”

“We added our own money on top. Use it for whatever–travel, start something, down payment. It’s yours.”

He looked rough. Grayer than I remembered. Lines around his eyes that hadn’t been there before.

Blair had worn him down.

“You’re brilliant,” he said quietly. “Way smarter than your mom and I ever were.”

Then he said something I never expected.

“We screwed up. Both of us.”

He sat on the edge of my desk, hands clasped.

“Kids don’t need things to be equal. They need to feel chosen Loved without conditions.”

“You were always the self–sufficient one. Smart, ambitious, focused. We thought you’d be okay on your own.”

“But Blair–she’s all impulse and rage. Can only see what’s in front of her. And she’ll tear through anyone to get it.”

He stopped. Breathed hard.

“We should’ve stopped her. What she did to you–what we let her do–that was abuse.”

Yeah. It was.

But he wasn’t blameless.

“She hit me to steal my things,” I said flatly. “And now she does the same to you. So honestly? I don’t even hate her anymore.”

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The Verdict on My Husband the Judge: GUILTY

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Chapter 8

“I hate you. Both of you.”

He went pale.

“You watched her destroy me for years and did nothing. Then the second I fought back, you stepped in–but only to tell me I had to be the bigger person. Share. Forgive.”

“You want to talk about abuse? You two built it. She was just the weapon you handed her.”

If they’d intervened when we were kids, I wouldn’t be standing here with a decade of rage carved into my bones.

If they’d actually enforced consequences instead of caving to whoever screamed loudest, she wouldn’t still be throwing tantrums at eighteen.

Growing up under the same roof didn’t make us sisters.

She saw me as the enemy. Someone hoarding resources that should’ve been hers.

When we were little, she used her fists.

Now she weaponized tears, played the victim, forced my parents to compensate her.

But there was one thing she could never steal from me:

My intelligence. My work ethic. My future.

She wanted Lincoln. Wanted college. Wanted a life that looked like mine.

She’d never have it.

And honestly? I didn’t hate her anymore.

She wasn’t worth the energy.

She’d never be in my league again.

I took the card.

Why the hell wouldn’t I? I’d be legally obligated to support em when they aged out anyway. Might as well collect

what I’d earned.

And I made damn sure Blair found out.

Had a friend mention it casually. Let it slip that Dad had handed over a massive sum.

She detonated.

The Verdict on My Husband the Judge: GUILTY

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Chapter 8

Destroyed the house. Screamed at my parents until her voice gave out.

They didn’t respond. Started booking work trips just to escape her.

So she came to Roosevelt.

Tried to force her way through the front gates.

Security held her back while she shrieked, face twisted, spitting venom.

I walked down and stood just inside the fence line.

“Can’t handle it already?” I said lightly. “What are you gonna do when it gets worse?”

Her eyes were murderous.

“You really think they’re going to choose a failure like you over someone who’s actually going somewhere?”

I let the smile reach my eyes.

“That money? Just the start. I’m taking everything. Every dollar they have left. Every bit of support. Every advantage.”

“And you’ll get nothing.”

“You’re a joke. You’ll stay stuck in the mud forever while I’m out there actually living.”

I didn’t just reject her.

I obliterated her.

Made sure she understood exactly how insignificant she was

And tore apart whatever was left between her and our parents while I was at it.

If I couldn’t have a family growing up, why should she get one now?

She wasn’t my sister.

She was a leech who’d been draining me dry since we were kids.

Without her, I could’ve had everything from the beginning.

Maybe I really am selfish.

Vindictive even.

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The Verdict on My Husband the Judge: GUILTY

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Chapter 1