CHAPTER 6
"You ruined my life!" Vanessa screamed, thrashing against the restraint of the arresting officers as her designer gown tore at the shoulder. "Everything you built was supposed to be mine! I deserved that CEO chair!"
"You didn't build a single brick of this company, Vanessa," I replied coldly, stepping closer until I was standing only inches from her shaking frame. "You traded your integrity for greed, and tonight, you traded your freedom for an empty title."
The cameras from national news outlets, which had been invited to cover the gala, were already broadcasting her chaotic arrest live across every major cable network in North America.
Across the United States, millions of viewers watched in absolute shock as the pristine heiress of Merrick Global was escorted out of the hotel in handcuffs.
As the agents led her past the shattered champagne glass on the floor, she turned her head, tears streaking through her running makeup.
"Mom, please!" she sobbed, her voice suddenly shifting into the manipulative pitch she had used since childhood. "Don't let them take me! I'm your daughter!"
I stood straight, my face unyielding as stone, refusing to give her the emotional reaction she was desperately begging for.
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"My daughter died the moment she traded her mother's life for a corporate stock option," I answered quietly.
The heavy steel doors closed behind her, cutting off her hysterical cries as the federal convoy pulled up outside the hotel main entrance.
