Chapter 8 - The Police Arrive
Before Vivian could even formulate a response, a new sound cut through the tension.
Sirens.
Loud, wailing police sirens echoing from the street outside, growing louder and louder until they stopped abruptly right in front of the chapel.
Through the stained glass windows, the flash of red and blue lights painted the stone walls.
Vivian froze. The blood entirely left her face. She looked like a statue about to crumble.
The heavy oak doors at the back of the chapel swung open once more.
Four uniformed police officers, accompanied by two plainclothes detectives, strode purposefully down the center aisle.
The crowd parted like the Red Sea. No one breathed. No one moved.
The lead detective, a tall woman with a no-nonsense expression, walked straight past me and stopped in front of the first pew.
"Vivian Mercer?" the detective asked.
Vivian couldn't speak. She just stared at the badge clipped to the detective's belt.
"Vivian Mercer, you are under arrest for grand larceny, wire fraud, and embezzlement," the detective announced, her voice booming over the silence of the church.
"We also have a warrant for your arrest regarding the destruction of private property and extortion."
"No," Vivian whispered, shaking her head. "No, this is a mistake. I am Vivian Mercer. You can't do this."
"Turn around, ma'am, and place your hands behind your back."
One of the uniformed officers stepped forward and grabbed her wrist.
The click of the handcuffs snapping shut sounded like a gunshot in the quiet chapel.
"Ethan!" Vivian cried out, her voice finally breaking into sheer, hysterical terror as the cold metal locked around her wrists. "Ethan, do something! Call our lawyers! Tell them she's lying!"
She looked at her son, pleading, begging for the undying loyalty she had always demanded from him.
She expected him to shield her. She expected him to use his money and influence to make this go away, just as the Mercer men had done for generations.
But Ethan didn't move to help her.
He stepped down from the altar, his face completely devoid of sympathy.
May you like
He looked at the woman who had terrorized his fiancée, stolen from the needy, and tried to ruin the best thing that had ever happened to him.
"I did call the lawyers, Mother," Ethan said coldly. "Yesterday. To hand over the evidence."
