Chapter 8 - The Desperate Strike
"No! No, it wasn't him! It was her idea!"
The shriek tore from Serena Hayes's throat like the screech of a wounded animal. She jumped out of her chair, pointing a trembling, manicured finger directly at Ryan.
"Serena, shut your mouth!" Ryan lunged toward her, his face twisted in feral rage, but Detective Miller intercepted him, shoving him roughly against the boardroom wall.
"Don't move, Carter!" Miller ordered.
"He told me Haley had an ironclad will that left everything to him!" Serena screamed, hysterical tears ruining her face. "He told me if she was in the hospital for just two days, he could exercise the emergency power of attorney and liquidate the trust! I didn't hire the driver! Ryan hired him! Ryan handled the cash! I just signed the papers he told me to sign!"
"You lying bitch!" Ryan roared, thrashing against Miller's grip. "You begged me for that diamond collar! You picked out the penthouse in Miami! You found the notary through your sister!"
"Keep talking, both of you," Claire Jenkins remarked coolly, taking notes on her legal pad. "Every word is being recorded by the court reporter in the adjacent room."
Ryan stopped struggling. His chest heaved as he turned his wild, desperate eyes toward me.
"Haley... please," he pleaded, his voice breaking into a wretched sob. "Look at me. It's Ryan. Your Ryan. Remember our wedding in Charleston? Remember the promises we made? You can't send me to prison. I'll die in there, Haley! Please, call off the police! We can get divorced! I'll sign over everything! I'll never show my face in Georgia again!"
I walked over to where he stood pinned against the wall. For six years, I had believed this man was my protector, my partner, the person who would stand by me when the world grew cold. Now, looking into his eyes, all I saw was a hollow, cowardly parasite who had mistaken my generosity for weakness.
"When I called you from the hospital bed," I said softly, so only he could hear, "I wasn't calling to ask for your permission to live. I was giving you one last chance to be a human being."
"Haley—"
"You failed, Ryan."
I turned my back on him.
"Detective Miller," I said clearly. "Take them away."
The clicks of the handcuffs closing around Ryan’s wrists echoed sharply in the quiet room. Serena dropped to her knees on the Persian rug, wailing incoherently as an officer pulled her arms behind her back.
"Ryan Carter, you are under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder, aggravated assault, grand larceny, and corporate fraud," Miller recited, hauling Ryan toward the door. "Serena Hayes, you are under arrest as an accessory to conspiracy to commit murder, identity theft, and scheme to defraud."
As they were dragged down the hallway toward the private elevator, Ryan's screams of denial and Serena's sobs faded into the distance, until finally, the heavy double doors clicked shut.
Silence returned to the Carter family office.
Marcus Vance let out a long breath, adjusting his glasses. "The federal warrants will be unsealed tomorrow morning, Haley. Every news outlet from Atlanta to Miami will be running the story."
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"Let them," I said, looking down at the cracked screen of my phone resting on the table. "The Carter name survived two wars and the Great Depression. It will survive Ryan Carter."
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