Chapter 12
Chapter 12
While Sterling is in jail, he learns of a legal loophole that would allow him to remove Helena as lead prosecutor of Elara and appoint him in her place. His plan then would be to dismiss the conviction and have Elara released. His next plan would be to remove Leo from Helena's custody and return him to Elara. Meanwhile Elara is struggling being away from Leo and not hearing any updates. She finds an Ally in prison named Nina who helps her manage her time there. Lina tries to visit Leo and faces pushback from Helena and Marcus
The cell was small, cold, and smelled of stale sweat and disinfectant. Sterling Vance sat on the narrow cot, his back against the concrete wall, and stared at the legal tablet the guard had grudgingly allowed him. His fingers moved slowly across the screen, scrolling through archived statutes and procedural codes. The contempt charge had been a calculated risk, one he had taken willingly, but the weight of his confinement pressed harder each day. He had to find a way out—not just for himself, but for Elara, for Leo, for the truth that was still buried beneath Helena’s lies.
It was on the third night, when the prison lights dimmed to a murky orange glow, that he found it. A footnote in the Family Justice Code, Section 14.3, rarely cited and never tested in a case like this. It stated that if the lead prosecutor—in this case, the victim’s family representative—could be proven to have a direct, undisclosed conflict of interest that compromised the integrity of the proceedings, then an alternate family member could petition the council for immediate replacement. The alternate had to be a blood relative of the victim, willing to assume all prosecutorial duties, including the power to dismiss charges or overturn a conviction if new evidence warranted.
Sterling’s breath caught. He was Damien’s father. He was a blood relative. And Helena’s conflict of interest was not just undisclosed—it was the very engine of her scheme. She had manipulated evidence, coerced a witness, and acted not for justice but for custody of Leo. If he could prove that, he could remove her. And once he held the role, he could review the evidence Lina had submitted—the evidence that pointed to Marcus—and dismiss the conviction entirely. Elara would walk free. Leo would come home.
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