Chapter 7 - THE TRIAL OF THE WOLF
Three months later, the courtroom was packed to the gills.
The case of The State v. Luca Vance had become a media sensation. Local news outlets dubbed it "The Heir’s Betrayal"—a cautionary tale of corporate greed, elder abuse, and a sister’s relentless pursuit of justice.
I sat in the front row, dressed in a sharp charcoal suit, my posture rigid and unwavering.
Across the aisle sat Luca and Wendy. They didn't look like arrogant masters of the manor anymore. Luca’s hair was unkempt, his tailored suit replaced by a drab orange jumpsuit, his wrists bound in heavy steel cuffs. Wendy sat beside her defense attorney, refusing to look me in the eye, her face pale with humiliation and mounting dread.
The evidence compiled from my father’s thumb drive, combined with Marcus’s forensic accounting and the medical records of Mom’s intentional over-medication, was an airtight guillotine.
The prosecuting attorney didn't even need to sweat. He stood before the judge, holding up the forged quitclaim deed alongside my father's original trust documents.
"Your Honor, the defense would like to argue that this was a 'family dispute' over estate management," the defense lawyer stammered, sweating profusely under the judge’s icy glare. "My clients merely attempted to streamline the property administration while the defendant was unreachable overseas."
The judge—a formidable woman with decades on the bench—slowly lowered her reading glasses and stared directly at Luca.
"Streamline?" the judge repeated, her voice echoing coldly through the silent courtroom. "Mr. Vance forged legal signatures, systematically drained hundreds of thousands of dollars from his sister’s trust, committed wire fraud through shell companies, and subjected his sixty-eight-year-old mother to systematic psychological abuse and forced servitude."
She slammed her gavel down with a sharp, definitive crack.
"There is nothing 'streamlined' about systemic extortion. I sentence Luca Vance to twelve years in federal prison with no possibility of parole for the first eight. Wendy Vance is sentenced to five years for accessory to fraud and conspiracy."
Gasps echoed through the gallery. Wendy burst into loud, ugly tears, burying her face in her hands as the bailiffs stood up behind them.
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Luca turned his head slowly, locking eyes with me across the courtroom aisle. His expression wasn't one of remorse; it was a mask of pure, unadulterated hatred. He mouthed the words: This isn't over.
I didn't flinch. I just offered him a cool, razor-sharp smile, raised my hand, and gave him a polite, mocking wave goodbye.
