Chapter 6 - The Steel Trap
A week later, the legal machinery I had set in motion was grinding Evelyn and Julian into dust. The bail hearing was a brief, brutal affair.
I sat in the front row of the courtroom, wearing a sharp white suit, a stark contrast to the dreary orange jumpsuits Evelyn and Julian were forced to wear. They were brought out in shackles, their chains rattling in the dead silence of the courtroom.
Evelyn refused to look at me. She kept her eyes glued to the floor, her aristocratic pride utterly broken by the reality of a county jail cell. Julian, however, couldn't stop looking back at me, his eyes pleading, begging for a mercy he never once showed my father.
The judge, a stern man with zero tolerance for white-collar violence, peered over his glasses at the defense table—which was manned by an exhausted, overworked public defender.
"Given the severity of the charges, specifically the premeditated attempted murder of Arthur Sterling, and the substantial risk of flight given the defendants' prior attempts to access offshore accounts," the judge announced, striking his gavel, "bail is denied. Both defendants will remain in custody pending trial."
Evelyn let out a sharp cry and collapsed into her chair. The public defender awkwardly patted her shoulder.
As the bailiffs moved in to escort them back to the holding cells, I stood up and walked to the wooden partition separating the gallery from the court.
"Evelyn," I called out softly.
She turned her head, her eyes hollow and dark.
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"I wanted you to know," I said, ensuring every word cut deep, "that the contractors are at the mansion today. They are ripping up the marble floor in the foyer. We decided it held too many bad memories. We're replacing it with the original hardwood my mother loved. You are being erased, Evelyn. From the house, from the company, from our lives. It’s like you never existed at all."
Evelyn opened her mouth to speak, to hurl one final insult, but nothing came out. The absolute finality of her defeat had stolen her voice. She turned away and let the bailiffs drag her back into the dark.
