Chapter 5 - THE ARREST ON MARBLE FLOORS
The sound of the steel handcuffs clicking around Daniel's wrists sounded like a gunshot in the silent room.
"Get your hands off me!" Daniel shrieked, struggling against the Deputy's grip as his arms were pinned behind his back. "Do you know who I am?! I am the chief executive officer of Kincaid Residential Contracting! I build houses in this city!"
"Not anymore, Mr. Kincaid," Deputy Miller said coldly, tightening the steel cuffs around his wrists. "Watch your head."
Patricia let out a high-pitched, hysterical scream as the second Deputy pulled her arms behind her black mink coat.
"This is an outrage!" Patricia screamed, her pearl necklace bouncing wildly against her neck as she squirmed against the officer. "Emily is insane! She's mentally incompetent! Her mother is framing us! Call my lawyer! Call Arthur Sterling immediately!"
"Arthur Sterling was informed of your arrest thirty minutes ago, Mrs. Kincaid," Marcus Vance said smoothly, standing with his hands folded behind his back. "He declined to represent you due to a conflict of interest involving your fraudulent loan applications."
Patricia froze, her eyes widening in absolute terror as the reality of her collapse finally struck her.
Daniel turned his head frantically toward Emily, his face flushed dark red, sweat dripping down his forehead.
"Emily!" Daniel begged, his arrogant posture completely shattered, his voice cracked into a pathetic whine. "Emily, please! Tell them it's a mistake! We can talk about this! I love you! I was just stressed about the business! Tell them to take these cuffs off me!"
Emily stood beside me, perfectly still.
She looked at the man who had disenchanted her for two years. She looked at the wrists where his grip had left dark purple bruises five days ago. She looked at his weeping, desperate face.
And then, she took one step forward, looking him straight in the eye.
"You took my phone, Daniel," Emily said, her voice smooth, steady, and clear as ringing crystal. "You changed my banking passwords. You froze my window in January. You tried to steal my father's legacy. And you thought I had nowhere to go."
She reached into her coat pocket, pulled out her new smartphone, and held it up.
"My mother was recording you," Emily said softly. "Every word. Every threat. Every lie. Have a nice afternoon in jail, Daniel."
Daniel stared at her, his mouth open, completely speechless as the delegates turned him around and marched him toward the service elevators.
Patricia wept hysterically as she was led away right behind him, her designer shoes squeaking pathetically against the polished marble floor.
I stood beside my daughter, watching the heavy metal doors of the elevator slide shut behind them.
Emily turned to me, a single, clear tear rolling down her cheek—not a tear of sorrow or fear, but a tear of complete, absolute freedom.
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"It's over, Mom," she whispered.
"No, sweetheart," I said, putting my arm around her shoulders and pulling her close. "The arrest is just the beginning. Now we clean up their mess."
