Chapter 7
By sunrise, the front gates of the Vance estate were besieged by an aggressive swarm of national media vans and tabloid reporters. Headlines flashed across television screens from coast to coast: "BILLIONAIRE MATRIARCH ARRESTED IN SHOCKING CHILD ABUSE AND KIDNAPPING SCANDAL."
Stock prices for Vance Global plummeted by forty-two percent within the first fifteen minutes of the New York Stock Exchange opening. Inside the federal holding facility in downtown Houston, Eleanor sat in a stark, windowless interrogation room wearing an orange jumpsuit.
Her expensive emerald green gown was gone, replaced by coarse institutional fabric that chafed against her aristocratic skin. Across the stainless steel table sat Senior Federal Prosecutor Vance—no relation to the family—opening a thick dossier of financial crimes.
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"Your offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands have been frozen under federal asset forfeiture laws, Mrs. Vance," the prosecutor stated flatly. Eleanor smirked, leaning back in her metal chair with an aura of unbothered arrogance that defied her current imprisonment.
"My legal team will have me out of this cell before lunch, and you'll be apologizing for this gross misconduct," Eleanor replied smoothly. "Your legal team just resigned after discovering you tried to launder bribe money through their firm's client trust account," the prosecutor countered with a smile.
