Chapter 8 - THE TRIAL OF THE LAURENTS
The case took fourteen months to reach court.
By then Château de Montferrand had changed.
The grand ballroom reopened.
But Camille removed several portraits.
Jean Laurent’s enormous painting disappeared from entrance.
In its place hung plaque describing estate history honestly—including restitution project.
Some donors withdrew.
Some guests canceled.
Others respected transparency.
Camille accepted both.
Étienne faced charges connected to fraud, conspiracy, coercion, and Antoine’s death.
Isabelle faced her role in poisoning and financial fraud.
Luc Fournier faced falsified medical records and related crimes.
Geneviève faced financial offenses for misappropriating Élise’s trust and concealing transactions.
The courtroom was packed.
Élise testified.
She looked nothing like arrogant bride.
Simple navy suit.
No dramatic jewelry.
Prosecutor asked about mother.
“Did Isabelle Fournier tell you Antoine Laurent might be your biological father?”
“No.”
“Did she tell you she had participated in financial transactions with Étienne?”
“No.”
“Did she tell you she administered substance to Antoine?”
“No.”
“When did you learn?”
“The night of my wedding.”
Then defense attorney tried undermine.
“You were angry with your mother.”
“Yes.”
“You had just discovered your marriage was invalid because husband was your half-brother.”
Élise flinched.
“Yes.”
“So your testimony may be motivated by revenge.”
Élise looked directly.
“I spent most of my life confusing humiliation with strength. I know what revenge feels like.”
Pause.
“This is not revenge. This is what happened.”
Camille watched.
Proud, unexpectedly.
Julien testified too.
Then Geneviève.
She admitted stealing Élise’s account.
Defense asked why.
“Jealousy.”
Courtroom stirred.
“You knowingly took money belonging to a thirteen-year-old?”
“Yes.”
“Why admit?”
“Because my daughter taught me that calling cruelty protection does not change what it is.”
Camille looked down.
Geneviève received consequences later, but testimony mattered.
Étienne testified in own defense.
He painted himself whistleblower.
Laurent fortune dirty.
True partly.
Jean committed wrongs.
Antoine planned restitution.
Étienne claimed fraud was method of returning assets.
Prosecutor asked:
“To whom?”
Silence.
“Did you return twenty-eight million to dispossessed families?”
“No.”
“Where did it go?”
“Investments.”
“Controlled by you?”
“Yes.”
“So your moral restitution deposited money into your accounts?”
Étienne's narrative collapsed.
Then Antoine audio played.
His voice filled courtroom.
“You stole from Father, then from me.”
Camille cried silently.
Julien held hand.
Élise sat other side.
Three children of Antoine, though raised in different worlds.
One father.
All victims of secrecy.
Verdicts arrived after weeks.
Étienne convicted on major fraud/conspiracy counts and serious offenses connected to Antoine’s death based on evidence and accomplice testimony.
Isabelle convicted for her direct role.
Luc too.
Geneviève’s financial case resolved separately with restitution and sentence that included custody? We can say suspended partially due cooperation but real consequence.
Camille did not celebrate.
Justice was not champagne.
It was paperwork, testimony, grief.
After trial, Élise received restored inheritance plus settlement from Geneviève’s assets.
She did something Camille did not expect.
She donated portion to restitution foundation.
“Don't do this from guilt,” Camille warned.
“I’m not.”
“Then why?”
“Because money came from Antoine, and this was work he died trying to finish.”
Camille accepted.
Julien struggled longest.
His marriage erased.
His father revealed affair.
Mother convicted.
Uncle responsible death.
Sister Camille became center of rebuilding.
He felt useless.
He began drinking heavily.
Camille noticed.
One evening she found him in wine cellar.
“Go away.”
“No.”
“You own château. You can order me.”
“I’m your sister.”
“That has not helped us much.”
She sat.
He laughed bitterly.
“I married my sister.”
“You didn't know.”
“Stop saying that.”
“Why?”
“Because everyone says it like it erases memory.”
Camille understood.
He had loved Élise romantically.
Now relationship could never exist.
No one could simply rename feelings overnight.
“You are allowed to grieve marriage.”
He looked at her.
“Even if it should never have happened?”
“Yes.”
He cried.
First honestly.
He entered therapy.
Élise did too.
They agreed no contact for six months beyond lawyers.
Healthy.
Camille herself had problem.
She never grieved father.
She spent years becoming heir.
Fixing.
Managing.
Protecting.
Now, with trial over, she collapsed quietly.
Henri found her one morning in chapel crypt beside Antoine’s memorial.
“I don't know what to do now.”
He sat at respectful distance.
“Perhaps nothing today.”
“I have two hundred million euros of stolen history to untangle.”
“Tomorrow.”
She smiled weakly.
Henri had served family forty years.
He knew every secret except perhaps his own father’s role.
DNA later confirmed Étienne was indeed Lucien Delacroix’s biological son—Henri’s half-brother.
Henri learned at seventy-one that man who destroyed Laurent family was his brother.
He sat down when told.
Then laughed once.
“Apparently this château dislikes simple family trees.”
Camille laughed too.
Henri chose not contact Étienne.
Blood did not create obligation.
Again.
Two years after wedding, restitution program returned artworks and property settlements to seventeen families.
Château remained Camille’s.
But smaller estate.
Less money.
More truth.
One afternoon Élise arrived.
She carried box.
Inside was wedding dress.
“What do you want me to do with this?”
“Burn it?”
Camille smiled.
“No.”
Élise laughed.
“I was thinking donate fabric to theater school.”
“Better.”
Then she handed Camille small plate.
Berry cake.
Camille stared.
Élise said:
“I thought we could finally eat one.”
For first time, Camille laughed until tears came.
They sat on terrace and shared cake.
No throwing.
No audience.
No humiliation.
Just two women connected by father they had both lost in different ways.
But family drama was not finished.
A letter arrived from prison.
Étienne.
Only one sentence:
Antoine did not die before finishing his final will. Ask Marc why he never filed it.
May you like
Camille looked toward family attorney.
For first time since investigation began, Marc Delon looked afraid.
