Chapter 6 - Blood on the AirwavesWe didn't go to the police station. We didn't go to the hospital.
We drove straight to the studio of WCN News in downtown—the city's largest independent news network.
By 2:00 AM, Brooke and I were sitting in the green room, covered in dust, sweat, and dry blood. Beside us sat Marcus Sterling, the station’s lead investigative reporter, surrounded by three corporate attorneys.
On the table between us lay the contents of the brown leather folder: the original Thorne Will, the forged land transfers, the medical murder reports of David Thorne, and the matchbook Trevor had tried to use as blackmail.
"This is insane," Marcus whispered, flipping through the medical files. "If these documents are authentic, Victoria Vance hasn't just committed financial fraud—she orchestrated a twenty-year homicide and attempted to murder her pregnant daughter-in-law to hide it."
"They are real," I said, my voice trembling with exhaustion. "And in four hours, Victoria’s high-priced lawyers will have a judge sign a gag order to seize these papers and declare my daughter insane. You air this story now, or we are dead by morning."
Marcus looked at Brooke. She was holding her stomach, her face pale, but her eyes were burning with a fierce, unwavering determination.
"If we put you on live television, there is no going back," Marcus warned her. "The Vances will throw fifty million dollars at litigation. They will drag your name through the mud."
"Let them try," Brooke said coldly. "Put me on the air."
At 6:00 AM, as the sun began to rise over the city, the morning broadcast went live across three states.
The screen shifted from the morning weather report to a dramatic red flash: SPECIAL INVESTIGATIVE REPORT: THE VANCE EMPIRE UNMASKED.
Brooke sat under the bright studio lights, her bruised face fully visible to millions of viewers. Beside her were high-resolution scans of the toxicological reports, the illegally acquired trust funds, and the video footage from the hospital ICU.
For thirty minutes, Brooke spoke. She detailed the years of emotional abuse, the night Trevor hit her with a golf club over a spot on a silver plate, the abandoned bus stop, and the murder of her biological father.
The reaction was instantaneous.
Within fifteen minutes of the broadcast, social media blew up. #JusticeForBrooke and #VanceFamilyCrimes trended worldwide. Thousands of comments flooded the news stream, demanding immediate action from the authorities.
By 7:00 AM, a convoy of state police vehicles, accompanied by federal investigators from the financial crimes unit, pulled up outside the WCN news studio—not to arrest us, but to place Brooke under state protection.
"It's over, Mom," Brooke whispered, leaning her head against my shoulder as the federal agents escorted us out into the hallway. "We did it."
"Not yet," I said, looking at the news monitor mounted on the wall.
Live footage was currently showing six police cruisers pulling into the driveway of the Vance mansion.
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The camera zoomed in as officers smashed through the front doors. But seconds later, the reporters on the scene began to scream.
Smoke—thick, black, billowing smoke—was pouring out of the upper floor windows of the estate.
