Chapter 7
Katherine froze on the floor. Her hands slowly slid off Jocelyn’s trousers, her fingers curling into fists against the cold marble. The color completely drained from her lips, leaving her fair, rosy skin the shade of bleached bone.
“You... you know about Ohio?” Katherine breathed, barely able to force the words past her vocal cords.
“I know about the three children in Cleveland,” Jocelyn said, her voice dropping into a register of icy, devastating finality. “I know about the seven hundred thousand dollars you wired to the supervising physician to alter the autopsy reports. And I know about the shredding party you hosted in your executive suite on the night of August fourteenth.”
Richard stumbled backward, his hand flying to his chest as if struck by a physical blow. “Katherine... my God. You told me the trial was halted due to supply chain issues! You swore under oath that there were no fatalities!”
“She lied to you, Richard,” Jocelyn said, not taking her eyes off Katherine. “Just like she lied about her degree, just like she lied about her patents, and just like she lied about the trust fund. She’s been a fraud since the day she learned she could hide behind your checkbook.”
“I was trying to save the patent!” Katherine sobbed, pressing her forehead against the floor at Jocelyn’s feet, completely broken. “The company would have gone under! We needed the second round of venture funding! If the FDA flagged the toxicity, we would have lost forty million dollars!”
“Three children died, Katherine!” Jocelyn roared, her voice finally erupting with the raw, righteous fury of a mother. “Three children who had mothers just like me! And you buried the reports so you could buy a fourth sports car and sit at this table talking down to my daughter!”
Clara buried her face into Jocelyn’s neck, her small hands clutching Jocelyn’s collar tightly. “Mommy, don't yell... please don't yell...”
Jocelyn instantly softened, her hand gently stroking Clara’s back, her breathing slowing as she centered herself. “I’m sorry, baby. Mommy is right here. You’re safe.”
Eleanor collapsed onto the bottom step of the staircase, her hands buried in her face, her weeping turning into high, ragged wails of despair. “Our name... our family name... it will be in every paper in the country. The country club... the board... we are ruined.”
“Your name was ruined the moment you decided that vanity was more important than human life, Mother,” Jocelyn said, looking down at the weeping matriarch.
Richard slowly walked over to the console table, leaning heavily against the dark wood. He looked seventy-seven instead of sixty-seven, his shoulders hunched, his eyes glazed with the sudden, crushing weight of total defeat.
“What are the terms, Jocelyn?” Richard asked, his voice barely a whisper.
Jocelyn looked at her father. “There are no terms, Richard.”
“There have to be terms,” Richard pleaded, lifting his eyes to meet hers. “You’re a businesswoman. Everything has a price. What does it take to keep the DA from raiding Katherine’s office? What does it take to keep the bank from foreclosing on this house?”
“Sign over Keller Holdings,” Jocelyn stated cleanly. “Every asset, every parcel of land, every intellectual property holding. Unconditional surrender to the Apex trust. You and Eleanor will receive a modest stipend of four thousand dollars a month, contingent on your complete silence and your relocation to the Florida townhouse.”
“Four thousand a month?” Eleanor gasped through her tears, looking up in horror. “My country club dues alone are six thousand! How are we supposed to live on that?”
“You’ll learn to clip coupons, Mother,” Jocelyn replied without a trace of mercy. “Just like I did.”
“And Katherine?” Richard asked, his voice trembling. “What happens to Katherine?”
Jocelyn looked down at her sister, who was still kneeling on the marble, shaking violently.
“Katherine surrenders her passport to my legal counsel by six o'clock,” Jocelyn said. “She signs a full confession regarding the Ohio trials and submits it to the Department of Justice. If she cooperates, Apex’s legal team will negotiate a plea deal for manslaughter instead of second-degree murder. She’ll serve eight years in minimum security instead of twenty-five in maximum.”
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Katherine let out an animal howl of anguish, clawing at her own hair. “Eight years? In prison? I can’t go to prison, Jocelyn! I won’t survive it!”
“Then don't sign it,” Jocelyn said, turning back toward the front door. “And let the FBI arrest you on federal racketeering charges at seven o'clock tonight.”
