Chapter 11 - Beatrice Strikes Back
Word travels fast in the county jail. Within forty-eight hours, Beatrice’s attorney visited her cell block to deliver the news that her beloved son was officially testifying against her to secure a lighter sentence.
When Beatrice heard the news, she didn't cry. She didn't scream. A cold, terrifying silence washed over her. The maternal love she claimed to have for Julian instantly curdled into pure, venomous hatred.
“He thinks he can use me as his scapegoat?” Beatrice hissed, gripping the edges of the visiting table until her knuckles turned white. “He thinks he can walk away while I rot in here for trying to save his pathetic company?”
“Beatrice, his testimony is going to be incredibly damaging,” her lawyer warned. “With the audio recording and his eyewitness account, a jury will convict you in less than an hour.”
“Then we destroy him first,” Beatrice snarled, her eyes burning with malice. “Call the federal prosecutor. I have information about Julian’s logistics company that Clara’s recording didn't catch.”
The next morning, Beatrice sat in the same interrogation room her son had occupied. She struck a brutal counter-deal.
“Julian didn't just bribe auditors,” Beatrice confessed to the shocked FBI agents. “Two years ago, one of his trucks was involved in a fatal collision on Route 9. The driver was severely fatigued and driving a truck with faulty brakes that Julian explicitly ordered to remain on the road to save money.”
The agents frantically took notes. This escalated the charges from fraud to vehicular manslaughter.
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“Julian paid the driver’s family a massive, illegal cash settlement from a shell company to sign a nondisclosure agreement and claim it was driver error, keeping the company out of a massive wrongful death lawsuit,” Beatrice revealed, her smile completely devoid of warmth. “I have the ledger. I kept it in my safe deposit box as an insurance policy. My son belongs in a maximum-security prison.”
The war between mother and son had officially reached mutually assured destruction.
