Chapter 11: The Testimony**
Forty-eight hours later, the Capitol rotunda was packed to capacity for the emergency joint congressional hearing. News cameras from around the globe broadcast the proceedings to millions of viewers.
Julian Vance, his arm in a black medical sling, sat at the witness table alongside Clara Miller. On the other side of the room, Marcus Sterling sat in federal custody, flanked by a team of defense attorneys who looked as pale as their client.
Julian placed the little ruled notebook onto the podium under the high-definition cameras.
"This is not a ledger of high finance," Julian spoke, his voice echoing with absolute authority across the historic chamber. "This is the cost of corruption measured in human suffering. Each star on this page represents a night an American child went hungry so private defense contractors could inflate their dividends."
He looked directly into the cameras.
"We have built a system that rewards the ruthless and silences the vulnerable. But today, the silence ends. We are submitting four thousand pages of decrypted transactions into the permanent congressional record. There will be no settlements. There will be no pardons."
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The room erupted into stunned silence, followed by a wave of applause from the gallery that the committee chairman didn't even attempt to gavel down.
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