Guilty of attempted first-degree murder.

Guilty of conspiracy to commit murder.

Guilty of corporate embezzlement.

The judge brought down his gavel and sentenced Julian Vance to forty-five years in a maximum-security state penitentiary, without the possibility of parole.

Selina Cole received thirty years for her role as co-conspirator and accessory.

And as the bailiffs stepped forward to lead them away in chains, Julian turned, one last time, to look at me, tears streaming down his face, begging with his eyes for some shred of the mercy he had never once shown me.

I did not offer him a single word.