Chapter 33 - The Mother Behind Bars
Three hours later, Daniel stood inside the maximum-security holding facility at the Pitkin County Sheriff's Department.
Across the thick reinforced glass sat Victoria Van Allen.
Gone were the custom diamonds, the designer silk gown, and the immaculately sculpted French chignon.
She wore an oversized orange jumpsuit, her wrists shackled to the stainless-steel table, her face pale and bruised from Daniel’s backhand at the altar.
She looked up, her aristocratic arrogance entirely shattered, replaced by raw, frantic terror.
Daniel picked up the black telephone receiver on his side of the partition.
Victoria grabbed hers with both trembling hands, her knuckles turning bone white.
"Daniel, thank God," she breathed, her voice cracking against the glass. "You have to post bail immediately. Call the governor. Call our attorneys."
"Arthur tried to murder Emily in her hospital bed two hours ago," Daniel said, his voice void of warmth.
Victoria froze, the blood draining completely from her aristocratic features.
"What?" she whispered, horror dawning in her eyes. "No... no, Arthur promised me she would just be deported."
Daniel leaned forward, pressing his fist against the cold glass until the surface creaked.
"You stupid, arrogant woman," Daniel snarled, his voice vibrating with absolute fury. "You thought you were protecting our bloodline?"
Tears finally welled in Victoria’s eyes, spilling over her smeared makeup.
"Arthur approached me three months ago," Victoria confessed, sobbing openly now. "He said Emily was an undercover operative hired by rival hedge funds to take our family down."
"She was a kindergarten teacher with twenty thousand dollars in student loans!" Daniel barked into the phone.
"He showed me bank records, forged offshore wire transfers!" Victoria cried, shaking her head in agony. "He told me if I caused a public scene at the altar, we could legally annul the union before the trust unlocked!"
Daniel closed his eyes, disgust churning inside his gut.
His mother’s vanity and classist hatred had made her the ultimate weapon for Arthur’s corporate coup.
"He wiped the trust, Mother," Daniel said coldly. "He used your arrest to declare executive incompetence. Arthur controls the entire board."
Victoria dropped the receiver against the metal counter, burying her shackled hands into her face.
Daniel stood up, turning his back on the woman who had brought him into the world.
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"Daniel, please!" Victoria screamed through the glass, her voice muffled and desperate. "Don't leave me here! He will kill me too!"
"Then you should pray he gets caught," Daniel said, walking out the heavy steel door without looking back.
