Chapter 8 - The Perp WalkThe metallic click of handcuffs is a unique sound. It doesn't echo. It snaps, sharp and final, like the closing of a vault door.
As the female FBI agent hauled Vanessa to her feet and wrenched her arms behind her back, fastening the steel cuffs around her delicate, manicured wrists, Vanessa completely lost her mind.
“Get your hands off me!” she screamed, thrashing wildly against the agent's grip. Her designer dress tore slightly at the shoulder. “You can't do this! Do you know who I am?! I am Vanessa Sterling! I have lawyers! I will sue this entire firm into the ground!”
“Actually, ma’am, your prenuptial agreement dictates that in the event of a felony conviction against the primary trust holder, your marriage is annulled and you forfeit all marital assets,” Sarah Sterling informed her coolly, packing the crimson folder back into her briefcase. “You aren't Vanessa Sterling anymore. You are broke, and you are going to federal prison.”
Colin, on the other hand, didn't fight. When Agent Harrison hauled him out of his chair and cuffed him, the corrupt lawyer simply went limp, sobbing pathetic, breathy tears.
“David, please,” Colin begged, looking at me with wide, terrified eyes. “I’ll testify against her. I’ll tell the district attorney everything. She was the mastermind! I was just the legal counsel! Please, I don't want to go to jail!”
“Save it for the judge, Mercer,” Agent Harrison barked, shoving Colin toward the door.
“Wait,” I said, standing up from the conference table.
The agents paused. I walked slowly across the room, stopping directly in front of Vanessa. She glared at me, her chest heaving, looking like a feral cat backed into a corner.
“You wanted to lock my daughter in a dark room and throw away the key,” I whispered, leaning in so close she could smell the coffee on my breath. “You wanted her to spend the rest of her life feeling terrified, confused, and alone. I want you to remember that feeling, Vanessa. Because when the steel doors of your cell slam shut tonight, and you realize that no one is ever coming to save you… I want you to know that I am the one who put you there.”
Vanessa spat at me, but I stepped back effortlessly, letting her venom hit the polished glass table.
“Get them out of my sight,” I told the agents.
They hauled them out of the conference room. I followed them into the reception area. Sarah Sterling’s law firm occupied the entire top floor of one of the most prestigious high-rises in the city. The outer office was filled with dozens of high-powered attorneys, paralegals, and wealthy clients.
As the FBI frog-marched Colin and Vanessa through the lobby, the entire floor went dead silent.
Vanessa’s face burned with absolute, incandescent humiliation. She tried to hide her face behind her messy hair, but the handcuffs prevented her from covering her shame. The elite society she had worshipped, the wealthy circles she had clawed her way into through our marriage, were now watching her being dragged away like common trash.
I stood in the doorway, watching the elevator doors slide shut, sealing them inside the steel box that would carry them down to the police cruisers waiting on the street below.
The heavy, suffocating weight that had rested on my chest for six agonizing months finally lifted. I took a deep, shuddering breath, the adrenaline slowly leaving my system.
The door to the secure adjacent office clicked open.
My brother, Caleb, stepped out. He looked at me, reading the exhaustion and the relief on my face. He gave me a single, firm nod.
Then, a tiny hurricane of blonde curls and pink sneakers launched out from behind his legs.
“Daddy!” Nora squealed, running across the lobby and throwing her arms around my knees. She was holding a half-eaten ice cream cone in one hand and a messy, crayon drawing of a dinosaur in the other. Her eyes were bright, clear, and completely devoid of the terrifying shadows the drugs had cast over them. She had been clean for two weeks since I secretly moved her to Caleb’s house.
I dropped to my knees, ignoring my expensive suit, and wrapped my arms around her. I buried my face in her soft hair, breathing in the scent of vanilla and childhood.
“Hey, sweetie,” I choked out, tears finally breaking through my stoic facade. I held her so tightly I thought I might break her, but she just giggled and hugged me back.
“Are the bad people gone, Daddy?” Nora asked innocently, pulling back to look at me with her big, brown eyes.
May you like
I smiled, wiping a tear from my cheek. I kissed her forehead.
“Yes, baby,” I promised, my voice ringing with absolute certainty. “The bad people are gone forever. And they are never, ever coming back.”
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