Chapter 18 - The Judgment of Julian VanceTwo months later, the federal courthouse in downtown Seattle was packed to maximum capacity for the sentencing of The United States v. Julian Vance.
Julian sat at the defense table, looking utterly broken. His high-priced lawyers had abandoned him after Marcus Miller turned state's evidence, revealing that Julian had personally authorized the hit on his own family from inside his jail cell.
The courtroom fell into breathless silence as Eleanor took the witness stand. Dressed in a tailored black suit, her head held high, she looked directly into the eyes of the man she had once trusted with her life.
"For four years, Julian Vance allowed our son to freeze, starve, and bleed on the streets of this city," Eleanor testified, her voice clear and echoing through the high-arched room. "He did not just commit fraud. He tried to destroy the soul of a child to cover his own greed. And when that child found his way home, he tried to have us killed."
She turned to address the judge directly.
"Julian Vance is not a father, nor is he a human being who belongs in civilized society. He is a predator who used his own blood as currency."
When the judge asked Julian if he had any final words before sentencing, Julian stood up, his hands shaking in his orange prison jumpsuit. He looked at Eleanor, opening his mouth to utter a final plea, but the cold, absolute disgust in her eyes choked the words in his throat. He lowered his head, unable to speak.
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Judge Harrison delivered the verdict with unyielding severity: Life in prison without the possibility of parole for federal kidnapping, conspiracy, attempted murder, and corporate embezzlement, plus an additional forty years for the hit contract.
As the bailiffs led Julian away in chains, he knew he would spend the rest of his natural life behind concrete walls, forgotten by the world he had tried so ruthlessly to control.
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