Chapter 9 - The Final Verdict
Six months later.
The trial of United States v. Julian Vance and Camilla Price concluded in the Federal District Court of Massachusetts.
The evidence presented by Northstar’s legal team was so airtight that the jury deliberated for less than two hours.
I sat in the front row of the gallery, wearing a simple navy coat, as the judge read the sentencing order.
For counts of wire fraud, corporate espionage, conspiracy, and grand larceny:
Camilla Price: Sentenced to seven years in federal prison, with mandatory restitution of eight hundred thousand dollars.
Julian Vance: Sentenced to fourteen years in federal prison, with three million dollars in restitution and permanent forfeiture of all financial licenses.
When the sentence was pronounced, Camilla collapsed into her lawyer’s arms, weeping uncontrollably.
Julian sat completely motionless. He didn't cry, he didn't protest. He simply stared blankly at the wooden table in front of him as the federal marshals stepped forward to attach heavy steel chains around his waist and ankles.
Before he was led through the side door to the holding cells, he turned his head one last time to look at the gallery.
May you like
Our eyes met across the quiet courtroom.
I offered him a small, polite nod—the final goodbye to a ghost from a past life. He swallowed hard, a single tear cutting through the dust on his cheek, before he was pulled through the door, the iron chains clanking loudly against the stone floor until the door swung shut.
