Chapter 4 - The Paper Trail
The detective took out his notepad and looked directly at Brooke. "Ma'am, you're going to need to come down to the station for questioning."
"Wait!" Julian interjected frantically, stepping in front of his wife. "This is a private family dispute! My wife was acting as the child's temporary legal guardian while Clare was out of state!"
"She wasn't her guardian," I said coldly, pulling a blue folder from my handbag—a folder I had picked up from my lawyer's office right before heading home. "I never signed guardianship papers. I paid Brooke five thousand dollars in cash to watch Piper for two weeks while I closed the merger in Newark."
The detective turned to Julian. "Sir, step aside. Mrs. Vance, you're under arrest for child endangerment and reckless endangerment."
"Julian! Do something!" Brooke shrieked as the officer grabbed her wrists and clicked heavy steel handcuffs around her wrists. "Clare, you bitch! You ruined my life! You ruined my reputation!"
"You ruined yourself, Brooke," I replied as the officers dragged her down the hall, her expensive heels clicking pathetically against the linoleum.
Once Brooke was led away, I sat down in the plastic waiting room chair, my hands shaking uncontrollably. Julian stood nearby, glaring at me with pure venom.
"You think you won, Clare?" Julian sneered in a hushed, lethal tone. "I own half the judges in this county. Brooke will be out on bail by morning. And when she is, I will use every legal weapon I have to bankrupt you."
"Try it, Julian," I said, looking up at him without a single trace of fear left in my body. "Because while I was in Newark, I didn't just close a business merger. I finalized the audit for Vance Enterprises."
Julian froze.
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"Did you really think I wouldn't notice the two hundred thousand dollars missing from my daughter's trust fund?" I asked, leaning forward. "The money you and Brooke used to pay off the mortgage on your precious party mansion?"
The color drained from Julian's face so fast he looked like a ghost. He took a slow step backward, realizing that the trap he and Brooke had set didn't just catch a innocent child—it had caught them both.
