Chapter 6 - THE FAMILY BETRAYAL UNRAVELSThe arrest of Preston Vance wasn't just local news; it was a media earthquake.
By sunrise, major national news networks had picked up the story. The headline—GOLDEN BOY GROOM ARRESTED AFTER FRAMING 8-YEAR-OLD NIECE WITH HOTEL CCTV PROOF—was trending #1 globally across social media platforms. The video clip of the security footage broadcasted inside the Whitmore ballroom had amassed over twenty million views in less than six hours.
I sat in the hospital room armchair, watching the morning news broadcast on the wall-mounted television while Sophie slept soundly in her adjustable bed. Her breathing was even, the bruising around her temple already turning a deep, angry shade of purple and yellow.
My phone rang. It was an unknown, restricted number.
I swiped to answer. "Hello?"
"Evelyn? Thank God," my father's voice sounded hollow, broken, and decades older than it had twenty-four hours ago. "Evelyn, darling, please... you need to listen to me."
"I'm listening, Father," I said neutrally.
"The board of directors at Vance Real Estate just held an emergency pre-dawn vote. They've ousted me as CEO," he choked out, the sound of absolute defeat heavy in his lungs. "The corporate sponsors are pulling out by the millions. Our stocks plummeted forty-five percent at the opening bell in Tokyo. We're... we're facing total financial ruin."
"That's unfortunate," I replied quietly.
"Evelyn, you hold twenty percent voting shares in the parent holding company," he pleaded, his voice cracking. "If you issue a public statement claiming this whole thing was a family misunderstanding—that the video was altered—we can salvage the IPO! We can save Preston from prison!"
I let out a soft, melancholic sigh. "Father, do you remember ten years ago, when I went through my bitter divorce? When my ex-husband tried to falsely claim I was an unfit mother and threatened to take full custody of Sophie?"
There was a tense silence on the other end of the line.
"I came to you and Mother crying," I continued, my voice steady and cold. "I asked you to lend me thirty thousand dollars for a proper legal defense. Do you remember what you told me?"
My father didn't answer.
"You told me that I made my bed, so I had to lie in it," I reminded him, the memory flashing crystal clear in my mind. "You told me that Preston had an important business venture coming up, and you couldn't have my messy personal life distracting the family from our primary priority."
"Evelyn, that was different—"
"No, Father. It was exactly the same," I interrupted sharply. "You only ever loved winners. You only ever protected shields that shined. Well, your golden boy's shield just shattered into a million pieces against my daughter's head."
"Evelyn, please—"
"Check your email, Father," I said. "I just sent you and Mother formal legal notice through my attorneys. I am exercising my right to completely sever all financial and familial ties under the state’s emancipation and asset-partitioning statutes."
"You can't do that! We're your family!"
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"No, Arthur," I said, using his first name for the first time in my life. "You're just strangers with the same last name. Goodbye."
I hung up, blocked the number permanently, and turned off the television.
