I was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison for my billionaire adoptive father’s death. As the guards prepared to take me away, my mother-in-law pretended to cry while my husband gently rested his hand on his pregnant mistress’s belly. They believed they’d stolen my freedom and gained control of a nearly $5 billion empire. I simply smiled and revealed one name: “Clara Thorne.” My husband’s expression changed instantly. Seconds later, the prosecutor shouted, “Stop the transfer!” But the secret surrounding his first wife’s disappearance five years earlier was only the beginning…

“On the counts of Aggravated Murder in the First Degree, Federal Racketeering, Witness Tampering, and Interstate Wire Fraud,” Judge Thornton announced, his voice ringing through the vaulted room with the weight of an iron bell, “this court sentences you, Silas Thorne, to **two consecutive terms of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole**. You will serve this sentence at the **United States Penitentiary, Pollock**, under special administrative restrictions.”

The judge turned his cold gaze onto Beatrice.

“Beatrice Thorne, for your role as an accessory after the fact to capital murder, conspiracy to commit evidence destruction, and perjury, you are sentenced to **twenty-four years** at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury.”

Silas didn’t shout. He didn’t pound his fists.