Chapter 17 - What Justice Costs
The legal process moved more slowly than the headlines. For months,
lawyers argued over ownership, damages, and whether the company had
profited from code that never belonged to it. Julian was charged with
fraud and evidence tampering after the investigation confirmed the
altered records. Victor was not charged with those acts, but he faced a
civil claim for signing the settlement and suppressing Elias’s appeal.
Mara refused every offer that required her to sign a confidentiality
agreement. “My husband lived under a lie,” she told her lawyer. “I’m not
taking money to help anyone keep it quiet.”
The independent trustee recovered a portion of the licensing profits and
placed them in a restitution fund. Some of the money would go to Elias’s
estate; some would rebuild the chess programs that had been neglected
while the company chased bigger contracts.
Victor sold his private collection of championship trophies and donated
the proceeds to the fund. It did not erase his part in the scandal, and
he never claimed it did. He appeared at each hearing, answered each
question, and accepted the anger that followed him out of the
courthouse.
One afternoon, he waited outside Southside Chess House. He carried no
cameras, no gift bags, and no check. He held a box of replacement chess
pieces because the old set had three missing pawns.
Mara opened the door but did not invite him in.
“I won’t ask you to forgive me,” Victor said. “I wanted to see the place
Elias built.”
“You can see it from here.”
He nodded and placed the box on the step. “Then I’ll leave this, and
I’ll go.”
Theo appeared behind his mother. “You could come inside and help fix the
tables,” he said. “If you’re willing to listen more than you talk.”
Victor looked at Mara for permission. She gave none—but she stepped
aside enough to leave the choice to her son.
Victor entered quietly. On the wall hung a new sign, still covered by
brown paper. Theo pulled the paper down.
It read: THE ELIAS REYES CHESS ROOM. FREE FOR EVERYONE.
Victor’s eyes filled, but before he could speak, Theo set a chessboard
May you like
on the table.
“Show me if you’ve learned anything,” the boy said.
