CHAPTER 4
Within eight minutes, the piercing sirens of NYPD cruisers echoed outside the Fifth Avenue entrance of the Plaza Hotel, their red and blue lights flashing through the tall glass windows.
Four uniformed officers rushed into the grand ballroom, led by a senior detective who immediately recognized Wall Street titan Arthur Sterling standing beside the victim.
"Mr. Sterling," Detective Vance announced, stepping forward with handcuffs ready. "We received the emergency dispatch regarding a child assault and felony domestic violence."
"Detective," Arthur replied, pointing a steady finger toward Daniel and Chloe. "These two individuals physically assaulted my daughter and granddaughter in front of two hundred witnesses."
"That's a lie! She fell!" Chloe screamed, her manicured nails digging into her satin dress as a female officer grabbed her wrists and clicked steel cuffs around them.
"You have the right to remain silent, ma'am," the officer barked, turning the hysterical woman around and escorting her toward the ballroom doors.
Daniel struggled uselessly against the officers securing his hands behind his back, his slicked-back hair falling messily over his eyes as he looked frantically toward his legal team in the crowd.
"Call my lawyers! Call Vance and Partners!" Daniel shouted toward the gallery of socialites, but every single attorney present looked away, deliberately avoiding eye contact.
"Don't bother calling them, Daniel," Arthur interjected coldly, stepping beside his daughter. "I own sixty percent of their firm. You have no legal representation in this city tonight."
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As the officers dragged the two disgraced individuals out through the heavy doors, the crowd parted in absolute silence, watching the dramatic collapse of their social standing.
The high-society gala that was supposed to solidify Daniel's control over the Sterling fortune had turned into his permanent, inescapable ticket to a federal prison cell.
