Chapter 7 - Under Arrest
Special Agent Thomas Vance stepped onto the terrace with his badge drawn, flanked by four armed tactical officers.
The cold Atlantic rain immediately pelted their black tactical jackets as they took control of every exit point.
Behind them, Captain Miller of the State Police held his hand resting near his service weapon, scanning the broken glass.
“Nobody move,” Agent Vance commanded, his stern voice instantly silencing the terrified chatter from the ballroom.
“Hands where we can see them, step away from the railing right now.”
Eleanor immediately attempted to straighten her spine, smoothing down the front of her torn, glass-stained designer gown.
She summoned every ounce of blue-blooded arrogance she had practiced over fifty years of social supremacy.
“Agent Vance, is it?” she began in a patronizing tone, her chin held unnaturally high.
“I suggest you order your men to lower their weapons immediately before you ruin what remains of your pathetic career.”
“This is private property, and you are trespassing on the historical Sterling family estate.”
Agent Vance didn't even blink.
He walked forward with deliberate, heavy footsteps, the soles of his tactical boots crunching over the shattered crystal goblets.
“Eleanor Sterling, you are under arrest for attempted first-degree murder,” Vance stated coldly without a hint of hesitation.
Eleanor let out a sharp, hysterical laugh that echoed across the stone balcony.
“Attempted murder? Have you lost your mind?”
“My niece had an unfortunate slip near the balustrade because the stones were slick with rainwater!”
“I reached out to save her, and my reckless nephew attacked me and assaulted my husband!”
“Look at my hands, look at the cuts on my arms!”
“I am the victim here, Officer, and I demand that Ethan be placed in handcuffs this instant!”
Clara flinched behind Ethan, but Ethan stepped directly between Eleanor and the federal agents.
“She didn’t slip, Agent Vance,” Ethan spoke clearly, his deep voice cutting through the tension like a scalpel.
“Eleanor grabbed Clara by the throat, dragged her across twelve feet of flagstone, and shoved her off the ledge.”
“Clara fell twenty-two feet onto the lower lawn, and if I hadn't intercepted her fall, she would be lying on a mortuary slab.”
Captain Miller stepped toward the edge of the balcony, shining a high-intensity tactical flashlight down onto the manicured grass.
The beam illuminated the deep gouges in the wet earth where Ethan and Clara had violently crashed and rolled.
Beside the grass, Miller pointed the beam back up at the exterior stone balustrade.
There, clearly visible on the carved white marble, were the muddy smears of Clara’s shoes and the bloody imprint of Eleanor’s fingers.
“Forensics won’t even need ten minutes to reconstruct this struggle, Mrs. Sterling,” Captain Miller said dryly.
“Furthermore, we have the exterior security feed,” Ethan added, pulling out his smartphone and holding it up to Agent Vance.
“Julian installed an independent security server in the gardener's carriage house twelve years ago.”
“It runs on a separate hard-wired loop that Eleanor’s IT staff never managed to locate or wipe.”
“Every single second of her dragging Clara to this railing was broadcast directly to an encrypted cloud server.”
Eleanor’s eyes widened until the whites showed completely around her dilated pupils.
Her jaw worked soundlessly for three agonizing seconds as the realization struck her like a sledgehammer.
“You... you planted that camera?” she whispered, her voice cracking into a ragged rasp.
“Julian planted it before he died because he knew you were skimming the trust funds,” Ethan replied without mercy.
“He gave me the remote decryption keys when I turned eighteen, and tonight, I finally pressed record.”
Agent Vance nodded toward two state troopers standing by the glass double doors.
“Cuff her,” Vance ordered bluntly.
“Wait! No! You cannot do this to me!” Eleanor shrieked, backing away toward the wet stone wall.
“Richard, do something! Call Arthur! Call the Governor’s mansion right now!”
Richard took two frantic steps backward, throwing his hands in the air to surrender completely.
“I had nothing to do with this, Officer!” Richard blurted out, his voice cracking with cowardly desperation.
“I told her not to touch the girl! I begged her to leave Clara alone!”
“You pathetic worm!” Eleanor screamed, turning on her husband with venomous fury.
“I kept you in luxury for twenty years! You signed every single offshore invoice with your own filthy hand!”
The two state troopers grabbed Eleanor’s wrists, twisting her arms behind her back with mechanical precision.
The sharp metallic click of the steel handcuffs echoed across the silent ballroom, stunning the elite guests into total silence.
Eleanor thrashed against the officers, her hair coming completely undone, wild gray strands sticking to her wet face.
As they dragged her past Ethan and Clara toward the grand interior staircase, she stopped dead in her tracks.
She turned her bloodshot eyes onto Clara, glaring with pure, unadulterated hatred.
“You think you won, you little street rat?” Eleanor hissed through gritted teeth, spit flying from her trembling lips.
“You think a piece of paper makes you Julian’s daughter?”
“Arthur owns the judges, he owns the district attorney, and he owns the probate court!”
“By sunrise, this arrest warrant will be shredded, and you will have nowhere left in this country to hide!”
“Take her out of here,” Agent Vance commanded coldly, and the officers dragged the screaming matriarch into the corridor.
Ethan wrapped his arm tighter around Clara, feeling her entire body shudder against him as the sirens continued to wail outside.
He looked at Agent Vance, whose expression had darkened significantly after Eleanor’s parting threat.
“She wasn’t entirely lying about her brother, was she?” Ethan asked quietly.
Agent Vance let out a slow, grim breath, his eyes meeting Ethan’s with absolute seriousness.
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“No, son, she wasn't,” Vance admitted in a low voice.
“Arthur Sterling just left his penthouse in the capital, and he has three private security SUVs heading toward this estate right now.”
