Chapter 5 - Stripped Bare
Simon collapsed to his knees as federal agents forced his hands behind his back, slapping heavy steel handcuffs onto his wrists.
"Dad! Mom! Do something!" Simon screamed, his composure completely shattered, tears running down his face. "Help me!"
Meredith tried to back away toward the garden exit, but two female federal agents stepped into her path, snapping handcuffs around her wrists as well.
"Meredith Thorne," Agent Reynolds announced loudly so every guest could hear. "You are under arrest as an accessory to felony assault, corporate fraud, and destruction of evidence."
"Get your filthy hands off me!" Meredith shrieked, struggling against the restraints as her multi-thousand-dollar Chanel dress was wrinkled by the agents. "I am Meredith Thorne! I built this town!"
"No," I said, stepping right up to her, looking her dead in the eye just like I had in the foyer four hours ago. "You built a castle out of paper and lies. And today, the wind blew it down."
As the agents dragged Simon and Meredith out through the grand ballroom, past their horrified peers and screaming news cameras, bank officials accompanied by federal marshals began placing yellow seizure tape across the property.
"Every car, every bank account, this estate, and every piece of jewelry purchased with laundered funds is now federal property," Reynolds declared to the remaining guests. "This event is over."
Meredith looked back at me one last time, weeping hysterically as she was shoved into the back of a police cruiser—the exact same cruiser her family used to control.
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They had thought I was just an old man in a worn-out pickup. They had thought money and power made them invincible.
They had forgotten that some men spent their lives in the shadows, waiting for the moment to bring down the light.
