Chapter 36 - The Reckoning
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The jury deliberated for less than four hours—an extraordinarily short time for a high-profile corporate fraud trial involving thousands of pages of financial evidence.
The courtroom was suffocatingly quiet as Judge Miller took his seat on the bench. The jury foreman, a stern-looking man in his fifties, stood up holding the verdict forms.
"Has the jury reached a unanimous verdict?" Judge Miller asked.
"We have, Your Honor," the foreman replied clearly.
"On count one, Wire Fraud, how do you find the defendant, Julian Vance?"
"Guilty."
"On count two, Money Laundering?"
"Guilty."
"On count three, Racketeering?"
"Guilty."
Forty-two separate counts were read aloud. Forty-two times, the word Guilty rang through the quiet courtroom.
Julian Vance closed his eyes as if he had been physically hit. His legal team sat in stunned, hopeless silence.
Then came Owen's counts. Fraud, tax evasion, conspiracy, perjury.
"Guilty on all counts," the foreman concluded.
Owen slumped forward, burying his face in his hands, weeping loudly as federal marshals stepped forward to attach heavy iron cuffs to his wrists and ankles.
I sat in the second row behind the prosecution table, holding Naomi's hand. I didn't cheer. I didn't pump my fist in the air. I simply took a deep, slow breath, feeling the heavy burden that had lingered over my life for years lift entirely away into nothingness.
"It's over, Clara," Naomi whispered, tears of joy shining in her eyes. "You won."
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"No, Naomi," I said, looking at the bright sunlight streaming through the high windows of the courtroom.
"Justice won. I just did the math."
