Chapter 5 - THE ARREST OF THE CONSPIRATORS
The police officers didn't waste time with pleasantries. One of them stepped forward, holding a legal warrant bearing the seal of the district attorney’s office.
“Eleanor Vance,” the officer said, looking sternly at my mother. “You are being placed under arrest for wire fraud, corporate identity theft, and conspiracy to commit financial embezzlement.”
My mother let out a shrill, piercing shriek, clutching her chest as if she were having a heart attack. “Evelyn! You can’t do this to me! I raised you! I gave you life!”
“You gave me a childhood built on emotional manipulation and conditional affection,” I replied, my voice completely devoid of warmth. “And you spent my adulthood trying to rob me blind. Save the performance for the magistrate.”
Vanessa lunged forward, her face twisted with pure venom. “You ungrateful witch! You’re going to ruin all of us just because you couldn’t keep a man!”
Nathaniel stepped out from the shadows, his towering presence instantly halting Vanessa in her tracks. One look from his cold, gray eyes was enough to freeze her in place.
“I would advise you, Ms. Vance, to watch your tone and your proximity to Miss Evelyn,” Nathaniel said, his voice dangerously low. “Obstruction of justice carries a very heavy prison sentence. I’d hate for you to spend the first few years of motherhood behind bars.”
Vanessa burst into hysterical tears, sinking to the Persian rug and burying her face in her hands as the officers gently placed handcuffs on my mother’s wrists. The sight should have brought me satisfaction, but it only felt like the removal of a tumor—painful, necessary, and long overdue.
As they led my mother away toward the front doors, flashbulbs suddenly flared through the large bay windows. The media had arrived, tipped off by Nathaniel’s legal team the moment the warrants were executed.
“Let them see,” Nathaniel murmured softly beside me, placing a warm, steady hand on the small of my back. “Let the world know who tried to steal your legacy.”
I looked up at him, feeling the solid, unyielding support radiating from his touch. For the first time in my life, I felt completely safe.
“What happens now?” I asked quietly, watching the police cruisers pull away down the driveway.
May you like
“Now,” Nathaniel said, his lips curving into a rare, genuine smile, “we dismantle Adrian’s entire corporate network before the stock market opens. And then, we have a very long conversation about what you actually want to do with your life.”
I let out a slow breath, the tension of the past six months finally evaporating from my shoulders. “Lead the way, Nathaniel.”
