Chapter 6 - The Fall of the House of Mercer
The federal trial of Grant Mercer and Dr. Andrew Keller took place three months later in the Federal District Court of New York.
It was the most publicized corporate corruption trial of the decade. Headlines blared across every major newspaper and financial network: “Billionaire CEO Survives Bio-Assassination,” “Cousin Arrested in Corporate Coup,” “The Mysterious Heroine of Stonebridge.”
Grant Mercer stood before the federal judge, his immaculate Brioni suit wrinkled and ill-fitting, his face hollowed out by months in a maximum-security remand center. The evidence against him was airtight: encrypted emails detailing the purchase of the venom-sac, bank transfers to Keller, and audio recordings of him discussing the liquidation of Vale Consolidated assets over breakfast.
The judge didn't hesitate.
—Grant Mercer, for the charges of attempted premeditated murder, corporate conspiracy, and high-level fraud, I sentence you to twenty-five years to life without the possibility of parole.
As the bailiffs snapped heavy steel cuffs around Grant’s wrists and dragged him out of the courtroom, he caught a glimpse of Cameron Vale sitting in the front row of the gallery.
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Beside Cameron sat Nora Bennett, now dressed in an exquisite, tailored crimson suit, her posture confident and serene.
Grant’s eyes burned with impotent rage, but Cameron didn't even blink. He simply looked at his cousin the way a man looks at a discarded piece of trash swept off his front porch.
