Chapter 7 - The Arrest
The overhead lights of Aurelia slammed on with a sudden, blinding flash, illuminating the entire grand dining room.
Dozens of federal agents moved in swiftly, grabbing Vanessa’s arms, pulling her up from the floor, and pinning her against the central marble pillar—the very pillar where she had thrown cold wine in my face three nights ago.
Click. Click.
Heavy steel restraints were secured around her wrists and ankles.
"Vanessa Vale," Agent Cross said, stepping forward with a fresh federal warrant. "You are under arrest for violation of bail conditions, attempted armed robbery, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy to commit murder."
Vanessa thrashed wildly against the marble pillar, her raincoat slipping off her shoulders, revealing her disheveled, pathetic appearance.
"Father!" she screamed, looking around the bright room blindly. "Elias! Where are you?! Tell them to stop! I'm your daughter! I'm the one who stayed with you!"
Elias walked out from the kitchen doors, flanked by Eleanor Vance. He wore a crisp dark suit, his face calm, solid, and entirely devoid of anger.
He stopped three feet from her.
"You were never my daughter, Vanessa," Elias said, his voice steady as granite. "You were an orphan I took into my home, gave my name to, and trusted with my heart. And in return, you tried to murder my biological child, stole millions from my company, and turned my life into a circus."
"I did it for you!" she sobbed, tears running through her smeared makeup. "I wanted to make Vale International powerful! I wanted you to be proud of me!"
"You did it for your own sick greed," Elias replied coldly. "Tomorrow morning, the court will formally strike the name 'Vale' from your birth certificate. You will enter the federal prison system under the name you were born with: Vanessa Stubbs."
Vanessa went completely rigid. Hearing her birth name—the name of the impoverished family that had given her up thirty years ago—seemed to shatter the last remaining piece of her sanity.
"No... no!" she whimpered, her voice dropping into a broken, pathetic raspy whisper. "Not Stubbs... I'm a Vale... I'm a Vale..."
May you like
"Take her away," Elias commanded, turning his back on her for the final time.
The agents yanked her toward the front doors. As they pushed her through the entrance, news crews and photographers who had been waiting in the rain swarmed the sidewalk, cameras flashing furiously as the former high-society princess was loaded into the back of a armored police transport van.
