Chapter 4 - The Ticking Clock and the Traps
The garden pavilion erupted into complete chaos.
Two uniformed police officers moved in swiftly, grabbing Carmen’s wrists and pulling her hands behind her back.
“Get your dirty hands off me!” Carmen screamed, squirming hysterically as the steel handcuffs clicked shut around her wrists. “Do you know who I am?! My husband knows the Mayor! Javier, call Marcus Sterling! Call the firm!”
“Mr. Sterling won't be picking up his phone, Mrs. Robles,” Alexander said calmly, taking a slow sip from a glass of water an attendant handed him. “Marcus Sterling was Javier’s senior partner. Two hours ago, my legal team served his firm with a formal freeze order from the State Bar of Texas. Javier’s client trust accounts have been audited, and his license to practice law has been officially suspended pending criminal embezzlement charges.”
Javier let out a strangled groan, falling to his knees as an officer snapped handcuffs onto his wrists as well. “No... no, please... Mr. Vance, please! I was forced into this! My mother made me do it! She said we needed the money!”
“You cowardly spineless worm,” I spat at Javier, looking down at him with utter disdain. “You watched your wife get tortured for cash.”
As the officers began dragging Carmen and Javier up the stone stairs in full view of forty high-society guests and three local news cameras that Alexander had surreptitiously tipped off, Carmen turned her head, her face twisted in pure venom.
“You think you won, Elena?!” Carmen spat wildly. “My sisters and my friends will never testify! You have no proof of conspiracy! My lawyers will drag your precious little daughter through public depositions until she begs for mercy!”
Alexander walked up to Carmen, stopping just inches from her face.
“You think your sisters will protect you, Carmen?” Alexander whispered softly so only she could hear. “Your sisters—Rosa, Beatrice, and Sofia’s four ‘aunties’ who held her down—are currently being arrested at their respective residences in Highland Park. Do you know why?”
Carmen’s eyes widened in sheer terror.
“Because three hours ago,” Alexander continued, “I bought out the primary notes on all four of their family mortgages through my private equity firm. I gave them a very simple choice: face twenty years in state prison for felony kidnapping and lose their homes immediately, or turn state’s evidence against you.”
Carmen’s jaw dropped. The terrifying realization hit her like a freight train. She wasn't just facing a domestic assault charge; she was facing a total, systematic annihilation orchestrated by a billionaire father who had no limits.
“Take them away,” Detective Miller ordered.
As the police cars sped out of the Rosewood Mansion driveway with sirens blaring, Sofia took a deep, shuddering breath. For the first time since she had arrived at my apartment in tears, the terrible weight crushing her chest began to lift.
She turned to her father. “Is it over, Dad?”
May you like
Alexander wrapped his long, protective arm around her shoulders, pulling her tight against his side.
“Not yet, my darling,” Alexander said, looking over at me with a soft, deeply remorseful gaze. “We still have to tear down the rest of their kingdom. And then, we rebuild ours.”
