Chapter 13 - SHADOWS OF RECKONING
Even as new beginnings took root, the final legal loose ends required complete closure.
Inside the State Women's Maximum Security Facility, Julianna Varric sat in a gray visitation booth. Her cashmere suits were gone, replaced by thick denim prison attire. Her hair was greying at the temples, and the fierce spark of arrogance that had once defined her was replaced by a bitter, hollow resentment.
A buzzer sounded, and the heavy metal door opened. Matteo walked in, sitting down on the stool across from the thick reinforced glass panel. He picked up the intercom phone.
Julianna picked up her receiver, a cold sneer forming on her lips. "Have you come to gloat, Matteo? To show me how well you play the philanthropist now?"
"I came to give you an update," Matteo said calmly. "The court approved the full liquidation of your remaining personal holdings today. Every home, every stock account, every piece of jewelry has been auctioned off."
Julianna's knuckles turned white around the plastic receiver. "You stripped me of everything..."
"You stripped yourself of everything when you traded a child's life for money and control," Matteo corrected firmly. "The proceeds from your assets have funded thirty full-time legal investigators dedicated to auditing private adoption records across the state. Three other stolen children have already been identified and reunited with their birth families."
Julianna pulled back in shock, her lips trembling. "You're ruining our family legacy..."
"Our legacy was broken long ago," Matteo said. "I'm building a new one."
He looked at his sister with a steady, unyielding gaze. "You will spend the rest of your life in this cell, Julianna. You will never hear the Varric name used in fear again. You will only hear it attached to the lives you failed to destroy."
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Matteo set the receiver back onto its hook without waiting for her response. He stood up and walked toward the exit door.
Behind the glass, Julianna slammed her hand against the partition, screaming silently as the guards stepped forward to restrain her. Matteo didn't look back once. He stepped out into the bright afternoon sunlight, feeling the final weight of his family's dark past slip away forever.
