Chapter 10 - The Verdict and the Sentence
The jury deliberated for less than forty-five minutes.
When they returned to the courtroom, the foreperson—a stern-looking woman in her fifties—stood tall holding the verdict sheet.
“On count one, Attempted Premeditated Murder, how do you find the defendant?” the judge asked.
“Guilty,” the foreperson declared clearly.
“On count two, Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon?”
“Guilty.”
“On count three, Corporate Embezzlement and Grand Larceny?”
“Guilty.”
My mother covered her face and sobbed quietly in the back row. Lila sat frozen, staring at the floor, her world finally, permanently cemented in reality.
The judge—a veteran jurist known for her unyielding stance on domestic violence—looked down over her glasses at my father.
“Robert Vance,” the judge said, her voice heavy with righteous indignation. “In my thirty years on the bench, I have rarely witnessed an act of such cold, calculated, and monstrous cruelty by a parent against their own child. You did not merely assault your daughter; you attempted to destroy her spirit, her face, and her future to feed your own corporate greed.”
The judge slammed her gavel down.
“I sentence you to twenty-eight years in the State Penitentiary, without the possibility of parole for the first twenty years.”
My father was immediately cuffed by two court officers and led through the side door toward the holding cells. As he reached the door, he turned his head and looked at me one last time, his eyes pleading, desperate, and full of regret.
I did not move. I did not nod. I simply watched him disappear behind the heavy steel door.
As the gallery cleared out, my mother and Lila walked slowly toward the exit. Beatrice stopped near my table, looking at me with tired, hollow eyes.
“Claire...” Beatrice whispered, her voice cracking. “Is there nothing left between us?”
I looked at my mother—the woman who had watched me bleed onto ivory silk and told me to yield my life.
May you like
“Nothing, Beatrice,” I said softly. “You gave away your family thirty years ago. Now you just have to live with the choice.”
Beatrice closed her eyes, swallowed hard, and walked out of the courtroom, holding Lila’s trembling arm as they vanished into the crowd outside.
