Chapter 6 - The Badge and the BroomEleanor stumbled backward, her hand flying to her throat. “What is the meaning of this? Security! Throw this woman out, she doesn't belong here!”
“She belongs right here, Mrs. Sterling,” the lead detective said, flashing a gold shield before sliding it back into his jacket pocket. He stepped forward, holding a thick folder stamped with the seal of the Illinois Attorney General’s Office. “Detective Miller, CPD. We have a warrant for the arrest of Eleanor Sterling and Margaret Vance on charges of kidnapping by deception, falsification of vital records, and human trafficking.”
The ballroom music sputtered to a halt. The string quartet stopped playing. Dozens of wealthy elites turned their heads, their champagne flutes frozen in mid-air, staring at the cluster of people near the champagne fountain.
“This is absurd!” Eleanor shrieked, her voice cracking with rising panic. “My husband is a federal judge! You can’t do this!”
“Your husband recused himself from any family court jurisdiction involving the Sterling Foundation two hours ago, after the bank records were unsealed,” Detective Miller replied evenly. He turned to me, nodding respectfully. “Mr. Vance. Your investigator did thorough work. But Miss Samantha here had been building her own case for three years through the state’s missing infant registry.”
I looked at Samantha. She wasn't smiling. There was no triumph in her eyes—only a profound, heavy sorrow that had taken root five years ago and never left.
“You knew,” I said, stepping toward her. “When I saw you at O’Hare... you knew where he was.”
“I’ve known for six months, Ethan,” Samantha said softly. Her voice was steady, but her hands were clenched tightly at her sides. “It took me that long to trace the money trail from your mother’s charitable foundation to the private adoption agency Eleanor ran with her husband. I didn't want to tell you until I had ironclad proof. If I had come to you with just accusations, your mother would have buried us both.”
“Why were you cleaning floors at the airport?” I asked, the absurdity of it burning in my chest. “With your degree, with your accounting background—”
“Because I needed to be close to the private cargo terminals where Eleanor’s husband moves his shell-company assets,” Samantha replied without blinking. “Honest work keeps you invisible, Ethan. And invisibility is the only weapon a mother without money has against people who own the courts.”
Eleanor let out a sharp cry as Detective Miller snapped cold steel cuffs around her wrists. “You won't get away with this! Chloe will stop you! Chloe is on our side!”
May you like
At the mention of her name, the double doors of the ballroom swung open.
Chloe walked in, dressed in her engagement party gown, a smile on her face—until she saw the police officers, her mother in handcuffs, and Samantha standing beside me like an executioner.
