Chapter 5 - A Sister's Life Bought in Gold
The ship’s intercom chimed with three low, rhythmic tones.
Leo’s voice crackled through the private channel:
“Don Christian. The United States Coast Guard tactical cutter Jefferson has pulled alongside our starboard quarter. Assistant United States Attorney Marcus Vance is boarding the gangway with forty federal marshals.”
Christian tapped the console. “Escort Marcus down to the conference salon. Bring the aluminum dispatch case.”
He stood up smoothly, looking down at me.
“Stay with your sister, Nora. Mrs. Higgins has two armed guards stationed at this door.”
I stood up from the bed, catching his navy sleeve with both hands, looking straight into his dark, soulful eyes.
“Christian,” I whispered. “What happens to Donald Sterling now?”
Christian reached up, his large, scarred hand gently cupping the side of my face, his thumb wiping a stray tear from my cheekbone with breathtaking tenderness.
“Donald Sterling is about to discover that when you trade human beings like freight, the freight eventually breaks your neck.”
He stepped out of the medical bay, his long overcoat billowing behind him as he cleared the corridor toward the grand salon.
By 2:15 AM, the main conference room of the Sovereign was illuminated by the harsh, clinical glare of halogen task lights.
Assistant United States Attorney Marcus Vance—a tall, sharp-eyed prosecutor with silver hair and an unyielding reputation for crushing public corruption—sat across from Christian, reviewing the handwritten entries in Victoria Sterling’s ledger.
Beside the prosecutor lay the audio recordings Leo had extracted from the master suite’s intercom systems, along with the physical evidence tagged from Marcus Vance’s assault on Lily.
Prosecutor Vance pushed his spectacles up his nose, his jaw clenched in cold, professional fury.
“The paper trail is absolute, Don Christian,” the federal attorney said, his voice flat and lethal. “This ledger documents six separate instances of interstate human trafficking, corporate extortion, and the bribery of federal port officials across Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York.”
He looked toward the steel door leading to the lower holding vaults.
“Senator Donald Sterling’s legislative immunity does not apply to capital felony conspiracy committed on international waters. The emergency federal grand jury in Boston returned an eighty-four-count indictment thirty minutes ago.”
Christian leaned back against his leather armchair, turning an unlit cigar between his fingers.
“And the port authority concessions, Marcus?”
“Seized under the federal civil asset forfeiture laws,” the prosecutor answered. “Every shipping terminal, every warehouse, and every vessel operating under the Sterling Logistics flag is transferred directly into the court’s receivership.”
Marcus Vance signed the final seizure warrant with a heavy gold pen, sliding the document across the table to Christian.
“Under federal maritime restitution protocols, fifty percent of the seized Sterling corporate assets—valued at ninety million dollars—is designated for the establishment of an independent victim restitution fund.”
Christian picked up the document, his eyes dark with unyielding resolve.
May you like
“The fund has already been named, Marcus,” Christian murmured softly. “*The Nora and Lily Hall Foundation for Maritime Workers*.”
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