Chapter 16 - The Offer of Betrayal
When the formal twenty-two-count federal indictment dropped, it sent shockwaves through Camille’s defense team. Facing a mandatory minimum of forty years in a federal prison if convicted by a jury, her high-priced lawyer, Vance, initiated a desperate request for a proffer session—a plea bargain meeting at the U.S. Attorney’s office.
I sat in the observation room behind a one-way mirror with Harrison Grant, watching as Camille was led into the interrogation room in her shackles. She looked small, hollowed-out, and terrified. The arrogant queen of high society was entirely gone, replaced by a desperate prisoner looking at a lifetime behind bars.
AUSA Chen sat across the steel table from her, opening his notebook without offering a handshake. "We are here because your counsel indicated you have information of value to offer the United States government, Ms. Sterling. Proceed."
Camille leaned forward, her voice trembling with manic urgency. "Listen to me... I didn't plan any of this! It wasn't my idea! It was my mother! Eleanor was the one who told me to take the money!"
In the observation room, I actually gasped. She was throwing her own mother under the bus without a second thought.
"Explain, Ms. Sterling," Chen said coldly, his face expressionless.
"When Dad got sick, Eleanor panicked!" Camille cried, tears streaming down her face as she wove her desperate lie. "She said Dad was going to leave the company to Sydney because Sydney was obsessed with the computer systems! Eleanor told me to set up the offshore accounts! She told me to use Marcus Vance to clear the invoices! She said if we didn't take the money now, we would be left with nothing!"
"And the physical assault on your sister?" Chen asked, raising an eyebrow. "Did your mother order you to break her arm as well?"
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"Yes! She told me to force Sydney to sign the equity transfer by any means necessary!" Camille sobbed, her shackles clinking against the metal table. "She was right there in the kitchen! You heard her on the audio recording! She told me to make her sign it with her left hand! It was all Eleanor! Just give me a plea deal—ten years, minimum security! I'll testify against her in open court!"
I turned away from the glass window, feeling a wave of profound disgust wash over me. There was no honor, no loyalty, and no love in my family. When the ship began to sink, the rats didn't just flee—they cannibalized each other to survive.
