Chapter 8 - The Tribunal of Justice
Back in Europe, the military tribunal convened in a high-security subterranean courtroom beneath the Swiss Alps.
The trial of Valentina Romano and Federico Moretti lasted exactly four days.
There was no grand legal defense. Dr. Arthur Vance’s full confession, combined with the recovered digital ledgers, encrypted audio logs, and physical evidence retrieved from the Moretti estate, presented an airtight case of high treason, premeditated corporate fraud, and attempted assassination through targeted neurotoxin poisoning.
On Friday afternoon, the three presiding military judges entered the courtroom.
Valentina sat at the defendant's table. Gone were the designer dresses, the silk robes, and the untouchable aristocratic smiles. She wore a standard orange detainee jumpsuit, her hair unbrushed, her eyes sunken and hollow from sleepless nights in solitary confinement. Beside her, Federico sat with his head bowed, staring blankly at the polished table.
In the front row of the gallery sat Luca, Elena, and little Maya.
The chief judge adjusted his microphone and cleared his throat.
"Standing before this tribunal, the defendants Valentina Romano and Federico Moretti have been found guilty on all counts of high treason, conspiracy to commit murder, and systematic corporate manipulation," the judge announced, his voice echoing authoritatively through the chamber.
He paused, looking directly down at Valentina.
"For the deliberate administration of toxic paralytics, psychological torture, and attempted extermination of the head of the Moretti dynasty, this tribunal sentences Valentina Romano to forty years of hard labor in a maximum-security federal penal colony, with zero possibility of parole or pardon."
Valentina let out a choked, desperate sob, burying her face in her cuffed hands as the full reality of her lifetime in a cage finally set in.
"And for Federico Moretti," the judge continued, turning his gaze to the older man, "for treason against the syndicate blood pact and orchestration of an internal coup, you are sentenced to life imprisonment without parole."
The gavel came down.
CLACK.
The sound echoed through the courtroom like the final nail in a coffin.
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Luca did not smile. He did not gloat. He simply stood up, offered his arm to Elena, and walked out of the courtroom into the bright, warm sunlight waiting outside.
The ghosts of the past were finally laid to rest.
