Chapter 14 - THE FALL OF THE HOUSE
The verdict came down late on Friday evening as a heavy thunderstorm lashed the courthouse windows.
The jury returned after less than two hours of deliberation.
"On the count of grand larceny conspiracy, how do you find the defendant, Eleanor Vance?" the judge asked, holding the paper delivered by the jury foreman.
"Guilty," the foreman announced clearly.
"On the count of child endangerment facilitation, how do you find?"
"Guilty."
"On the count of corporate fraud and racketeering, how do you find?"
"Guilty."
Eleanor didn't faint. She didn't cry out or drop her head. She sat perfectly erect as the court clerk read through all twelve guilty counts, her face frozen into a mask of pure, prideful stone.
Sterling slumped into his leather chair beside her, knowing that his career with the elite of the city was over.
As the bailiffs stepped forward to escort Eleanor away, she finally turned her head to look back at the gallery where Marissa was standing. Their eyes met across the wooden railing that separated the spectators from the accused.
"You destroyed your own family, Marissa," Eleanor said, her voice carrying across the quieted courtroom, cold and clear. "You think you won, but you're alone now."
Marissa looked back at her mother without a single trace of pity.
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"I didn't destroy this family, Mother," Marissa replied calmly, her voice ringing out for every reporter in the room to hear. "You destroyed it the moment you decided that power was more important than your children. I just turned on the lights so everyone could see the rot."
Eleanor was cuffed and led away through the side door, her heavy gold rings clicking softly against the steel restraints—a sound echoing the night of the wedding that had set her downfall in motion.
