Chapter 8 - The Grand Jury Subpoena
Four days later, the storm hit from an entirely unexpected direction.
It did not come from Vincent Russo’s guns or dock fires.
It came in a white paper envelope delivered directly to Evelyn’s desk during her afternoon Criminal Law seminar at NYU.
A federal marshal in a dark suit stepped into the lecture hall, walked down the carpeted steps past eighty silent law students, and set the document face-up on Evelyn’s notebook.
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK SUBPOENA TO TESTIFY BEFORE GRAND JURY
To: Evelyn Marie Vance You are hereby commanded to appear before the Grand Jury on Friday, November 14, at 9:00 AM, to give testimony regarding organized extortion, wire fraud, and illegal maritime operations involving Damian Moretti.
The lecture hall went dead silent.
Professor Harrison stopped mid-sentence at the podium, staring at Evelyn through his half-moon glasses. Marcus, sitting beside her, let out a terrified whisper: “Evie... oh my God.”
Evelyn stared at the blue seal on the top of the paper.
Her hand trembled slightly, but her mind instantly switched into legal high-gear.
The Southern District wasn't targeting Damian through his dock workers anymore. They were using her. They believed that because she was a law student who had suddenly received fifty thousand dollars from a shipping tycoon, they could squeeze her for attorney-client privilege violations or threaten her with accomplice charges to force her to testify against him.
She packed her bag, picked up the subpoena, and walked out of the classroom with her head held high.
Ten minutes later, the Maybach pulled up to the curb outside Vanderbilt Hall.
Luca opened the door.
Evelyn climbed inside. Damian was already sitting in the rear, holding a stack of legal documents. His face was darker than she had ever seen it.
“You saw it,” she said, laying her subpoena on the leather seat between them.
“My attorneys received notification twenty minutes ago,” Damian said, his voice flat with suppressed rage. “Assistant U.S. Attorney Miller thinks he can use you as an unindicted co-conspirator to freeze my assets before Friday.”
Evelyn looked at him, her eyes steady. “They think I’m afraid of them.”
Damian turned his head, looking at her with a mixture of concern and anger. “Evelyn, if you step into that grand jury room, you don't have a judge present. You don't have defense counsel inside the room. They will grill you for six hours. They will bring up your father’s death, your sister’s medical bills, and every cent I’ve transferred to your accounts.”
“I know the Fifth Amendment, Damian,” she said coldly. “I know how grand juries work. They are fishing.”
“I won't let them put you in a glass box, Evelyn!” Damian snapped, his composure cracking for the first time. He grabbed her hand, his knuckles white. “I brought you into this to protect my business. I will not let them ruin your career before it even begins.”
Evelyn looked down at his hand gripping hers, then up into his dark, fiercely protective eyes.
“You didn't bring me into this, Damian,” she said softly, reaching out with her other hand to touch his jawline. “I walked into your private room at the Obsidian Room because I needed money for my niece. I chose to stay. Now let me protect you.”
Damian stared at her, stunned into silence by her quiet, unyielding courage.
“How?” he whispered.
May you like
Evelyn smiled—a sharp, brilliant, lethal smile that belonged to a woman who was born to master the law.
“Because, Mr. Moretti,” she said, pulling a notebook from her bag, “I’ve spent the last three days reviewing the Southern District’s filing jurisdiction for maritime port authorities. And your prosecutor just made a catastrophic procedural error.”
