The case ended with guilty pleas rather than a trial. Simon admitted financial fraud and intimidation connected to Alma, though he did not admit sending the earlier single roses to me. The court ordered restitution from seized accounts and the sale of property purchased through the shell vendors. I recovered only part of what I had lost, but former clients received priority.

I described consequences: damaged credit, abandoned work, and years of doubting my own ability to read records. I did not ask for punishment or offer forgiveness. I asked the court to recognize that financial deception changes how people trust their judgment long after balances are corrected.

Alma attended from the back row. Afterward, she asked through Malik whether I would speak with her. We met in the courthouse cafeteria. She had replaced the monitored phone, moved near her daughter, and begun repaying a portion of the losses under her agreement. She said therapy had helped her understand that fear explained her silence without making it harmless.

I told her I was working on the same distinction from the other side. My shame explained why I had ignored early inconsistencies, but it did not make me responsible for Simon's choices. We did not become friends. We finished our coffee and exchanged mailing addresses for legal notices.

The arts office had kept the yellow roses for two days while police processed the delivery. Most wilted before they were released. Priya saved one cutting and rooted it in the courtyard garden without telling me until a small plant survived. She offered to remove it when she saw my expression.

I chose to keep it. Not because I wanted to reclaim every symbol or prove I was healed, but because a flower had never made the threat. Meaning had been assigned by people, and people could assign it more carefully. We planted lavender around the rose so it would never stand alone. The summer it produced three yellow blooms. I noticed them, felt my pulse quicken, and continued watering.