Chapter 15 - Celeste Is Handcuffed And Escorted Out In Silence
Down the hall in the processing wing of the county facility, Celeste Hawthorne sat in a stark holding cell wearing a standard orange detainee jumpsuit.
Her designer hair was unstyled, her makeup was smeared with dried tears, and her expensive diamond necklace had been confiscated during booking.
The jailer unlocked the heavy steel door, tossing a clipboard onto the metal bunk where she sat staring at the concrete wall.
“Your arraignment is scheduled for 8:00 a.m. before Judge Henderson; the district attorney is pushing for no bail,” the jailer announced flatly.
Celeste did not look up, her mind racing desperately through a dozen different legal strategies that no longer existed.
Her high-priced corporate defense attorneys had already dropped her representation once her personal trust accounts were frozen by federal warrants.
She had gone from ruling the highest circles of Greenwich society to absolute isolation in a matter of hours.
The illusion of power and perfection had evaporated completely, leaving only the cold, unyielding reality of criminal accountability.
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Karma had collected its debt with compound interest, and there was no escape from the prison walls she built for herself.
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