Chapter 7 - The Empire Strikes Back
The trial was not a trial; it was an execution by due process.
Because I had retained digital forensic experts the moment I suspected Richard’s double life six months prior, the prosecution didn't just present circumstantial evidence—they presented an airtight, unassailable digital documentary of premeditated murder.
Footage from the private airfield showed Richard testing the cabin door override system thirty minutes before takeoff. Audio transcripts retrieved from his cloud storage captured him discussing the "inheritance timeline" with his offshore financial advisor.
Sitting in the front row of the federal courtroom, draped in a deep emerald silk dress that accentuated my pregnancy, I watched the jury foreman stand up to read the verdict.
"On the count of attempted first-degree premeditated murder: Guilty." "On the count of conspiracy to commit murder: Guilty." "On the count of grand larceny and corporate fraud: Guilty."
The gavel came down with a sharp, final crack.
Richard didn't look at the jury. His eyes locked onto mine across the courtroom. There was no apology left in him, only a cold, hollow malice that whispered he would have finished the job if he had a second chance.
Instead, federal marshals stepped in, grabbed him by the shoulders, and dragged him backward through the heavy wooden doors toward a maximum-security federal penitentiary.
He would spend the rest of his natural life behind gray concrete walls, stripped of his wealth, his status, and his freedom.
As the gallery began to clear, David Vance walked up and handed me a thick leather portfolio.
"Asset recovery is complete, Amelia," David said quietly. "All of Richard’s hidden holdings, secondary properties, and trust kickbacks have been successfully seized and re-integrated into Hayes Global. His net worth is officially zero."
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I took the portfolio, running my fingers over the leather cover. "And the subsidiary bio-tech transfer?"
"Halted and secured. The foreign buyers backed out the second the federal indictment dropped." David smiled warmly. "You didn't just survive an assassination attempt, boss. You just executed the most profitable hostile counter-takeover in corporate history."
