Chapter 14 - The Final Courtroom Blow
Three months later, the sentencing trial came to an end.
The courtroom was packed to maximum capacity. Julian sat at the defense table, his body trembling uncontrollably as the jury foreperson stood to deliver the verdict.
"On the count of attempted murder in the second degree, we find the defendant guilty. On the count of grand larceny, guilty. On the count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, guilty."
The judge looked down over his bench with an expression of icy condemnation.
"Julian Sterling, you showed a total absence of human decency, attempting to bankrupt your own child and threatening the life of the woman who sustained your family. I sentence you to forty-five years at the Sullivan Maximum Security Correctional Facility, without possibility of parole before the age of sixty."
Julian let out a broken, animalistic groan, his knees giving out as the bailiffs hoisted him upright.
Chloe Davies received twelve years at Bedford Hills for her role in the embezzlement scheme.
Evelyn Sterling was sentenced to eight years for secondary fraud and obstruction of justice, to be served in a state penitentiary where her days of silk blouses and diamond brooches were replaced by steel trays and prison laundry duty.
As Julian was dragged through the holding doors, he caught my eye one final time.
I sat in the front row of the gallery, holding Lily in my arms. I didn't look at him with hatred. I didn't look at him with anger.
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I looked at him with absolute indifference.
To me, Julian Sterling was no longer a nightmare. He was nobody.
