Chapter 5 - THE CONFESSION OF A PREDATOR
Down in the guest wing, the atmosphere was a stark contrast to the quiet resolve of the study.
Caroline sat on the edge of the plush king-sized bed, her designer clothes rumpled, her hair undone, staring blankly at the polished wooden floor. The glamorous socialite who had ruled the charity galas of New York and San Francisco was completely gone. In her place was a cornered, desperate animal realizing that her web of lies had finally collapsed.
The heavy oak door unlocked with a sharp click.
Two police officers stepped aside as Detective Vance walked into the room, followed closely by a court-appointed stenographer and a female social worker.
“Caroline Bennett?” Vance asked formally, holding a pair of steel handcuffs in his hand.
Caroline snapped her head up, her eyes blazing with furious defiance. “Don't you dare touch me! Do you know who my lawyers are? My family has political ties that will crush your entire department before sunrise! This is a private family dispute! My husband manipulated those cameras—!”
“Your husband didn't force you to smile while you locked an infant and an eight-year-old girl in a dog house, Mrs. Bennett,” Vance interrupted, his voice cutting through her hysterics like a knife.
He stepped forward, grabbed her wrists, and snapped the handcuffs into place with a sharp, echoing click.
“Caroline Bennett, you are under arrest for felony child abuse, endangerment, and systematic neglect. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.”
As the cold steel bit into her wrists, reality finally crashed down upon her. The panic that had been simmering beneath her skin boiled over into absolute, shrieking rage.
“You think you’ve won?!” Caroline screamed, thrashing against the officers as they hauled her toward the door. “You think that billionaire husband of yours is a saint?! He bought me! He wanted a prop for his high-society parties after his first wife died! He ignored those brats just as much as I did! He’s just as guilty for letting me into this house!”
She twisted her head back, screaming down the hallway as they dragged her toward the grand staircase.
“You’ll never fix that little girl, Richard! She’s broken! They’re both broken!”
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The heavy front doors opened, admitting a rush of cold night air, and swallowed her screams as the police cruiser lights flashed against the walls of the foyer.
Silence descended upon the mansion once more.
