Chapter 9 - The Shadow's SentenceWhile Leo and I built our new life in Malibu, the wheels of justice completed their final turn in downtown Los Angeles.
Mark Vance’s criminal trial for felony spousal abandonment, domestic endangerment, and fraud reached its conclusion at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center.
Stripped of his wealth, his corporate partnerships, his social status, and his legal team, Mark sat at the defense table in a wrinkled orange jumpsuit, looking old, withered, and hollowed out.
When Julian took the witness stand as the lead trauma physician who rescued us, his testimony was absolute, devastating, and airtight.
The jury deliberated for less than thirty minutes.
Judge Sarah Montgomery stood at the bench, slamming her heavy wooden gavel down with resounding force.
“Mark Vance,” Judge Montgomery declared, her voice echoing off the high stone walls. “Your actions on the morning of May 12th demonstrated a chilling, sociopathic disregard for human life and the safety of an innocent newborn child. You left your wife to bleed out on a floor while you celebrated yourself.”
“I sentence you to seven years in state prison at the California Correctional Institution, without the possibility of early parole.”
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As sheriff’s deputies chained Mark’s wrists to lead him away through the heavy iron doors, he turned toward the gallery one last time, searching the empty pews for a face that was no longer there.
No one was waiting for him. His socialite friends had abandoned him, his corporate partners had erased his name, and the wife he had stepped over was living in the light.
