Chapter 16 - The Arrest of Raymond Vance
Marcus Reed stopped beside the railing of the gallery, his hand resting on the carved wood, looking down at the frozen billionaire.
"Raymond Vance," Marcus Reed announced, his sharp voice echoing across the three-hundred-seat room. "Pursuant to a sealed indictment returned by a Federal Grand Jury in Chicago two hours ago, you are under arrest for Interstate Racketeering, Corporate Espionage, Witness Tampering, and Conspiracy to Commit Grand Larceny Exceeding One Hundred Million Dollars."
Raymond Vance stood up slowly, his face mottled with purple rage, his hands trembling as he straightened his bespoke cashmere lapels in a desperate, futile attempt to maintain his dignity. "You are making a catastrophic error, Reed! My attorneys will have this indictment thrown out before midnight! You have no jurisdiction over Apex Stratos!"
"Your son Marcus signed the European wire authorizations using stolen Horizon Continental routing codes, Raymond," Marcus Reed replied coldly. "And forty-five minutes ago, your daughter Vanessa signed a full federal proffer agreement at FCI Pekin, handing over ten years of your encrypted shell-company emails in exchange for a custody transfer to a minimum-security camp."
Raymond Vance froze. The realization that his own children had traded his freedom to shave years off their federal sentences shattered his arrogant facade like brittle glass. His knees visibly buckled.
Two federal marshals stepped forward.
CLICK. SNAP.
The heavy steel handcuffs ratcheted shut around the seventy-two-year-old hedge-fund titan’s wrists, cinching tight behind his back.
Reporters in the gallery scrambled for the exit doors, shouting into their smartphones as the news of the multi-millionaire’s arrest broke across every financial news wire in the world.
Judge Vance struck his gavel with apocalyptic force:
BANG!
"On the matter of Holloway versus Sterling: This court finds the petition for grandparental visitation to be a malicious, fraudulent abuse of process designed to facilitate an unlawful extortion scheme," Judge Vance declared. "The petition is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE."
BANG!
"Petitioner Evelyn Holloway is hereby assessed full statutory legal fees and costs amounting to two hundred and eighty thousand dollars, payable immediately to the respondent."
BANG!
"Furthermore, this court issues an immediate, permanent, lifetime criminal protective order barring Evelyn Holloway, her legal representatives, or any affiliated parties from ever approaching, contacting, or surveying Audrey Sterling or minor child Mason Sterling anywhere in the United States."
BANG!
"And I am referring Mrs. Holloway to the United States Department of Justice for criminal investigation into perjury and tax evasion regarding those offshore Cayman accounts."
BANG!
"Court is adjourned."
As the marshals escorted a weeping, chained Raymond Vance down the center aisle, Evelyn Holloway turned toward our table, falling to her knees on the linoleum floor, her hands clasped in pathetic supplication.
"Audrey! Mason! Please!" Evelyn wailed, tears smearing her mascara into grotesque black streaks. "I'm your grandmother, Mason! Tell them not to take my pension! Audrey, I have nowhere to go!"
Mason stood tall beside me. He didn't look at his shoes. He didn't flinch behind my coat.
He looked down at the weeping woman with calm, unshakeable clarity.
"A real grandmother doesn't sell her grandson for a mink coat," Mason said softly, his clear voice carrying across the emptying courtroom.
May you like
He reached up, took Brian’s hand in his left and my hand in his right, his posture proud and unbroken. "Let's go home, Mom. We have an airplane to fly."
We turned our backs on the ruined conspirators, walking out through the double doors into the bright Ohio sunshine, our kingdom completely unassailable.
