Chapter 6 - Jessica's Downfall Begins
"Arrest? Me?" Jessica shrieked, backing into a marble pillar. "Mark! Tell them! Tell these people they can't touch me! I’m a Vance!"
"Officers, wait! This is a private family matter!" Mark scrambled forward, waving his hands frantically. "My wife is an attorney, she’s just having an emotional breakdown! Drop the charges, Sarah! Tell them to leave right now!"
"Officer, the surveillance footage clearly demonstrates deliberate intent," I stated calmly, handing the secure flash drive directly to Detective Miller. "The dress destroyed was a one-of-a-kind vintage silk gown valued at twelve thousand dollars, complete with artisan restoration invoices. The victim, Mrs. Helen Sterling, sustained chemical irritation to both eyes and neck abrasions from the spilled glass shards."
"Hey! Let go of me! Get your filthy hands off my coat!" Jessica screamed as the female officer grabbed her wrists, snapping the cold steel handcuffs around her wrists. "Mark! Call Mom! Call Dad! Sarah, you vindictive bitch, I will ruin you! I will tear your life apart!"
The members sitting in the adjacent terrace cafe craned their necks, gasping and whispering as Jessica was dragged down the carpeted hallway, her heels dragging on the floor, her tears smudging her thick mascara.
Mark stood frozen, watching his sister get bundled into the back of a squad car through the glass doors. When the sirens began to wail, he whipped around to face me, his face red with fury.
"You're a monster," he spat, his voice trembling. "She is my sister! You sent the police after my sister over a silk dress?"
"I sent the police after a vicious, entitled parasite who thought she could humiliate my mother without consequences," I countered, leaning in so that every word pierced him like glass. "And that was just the appetizer, Mark. Wait until you hear from her landlord."
Mark’s eyes widened. "What did you do to *Lumière Styles*?"
"I revoked my personal guarantee on her lease. Since she hasn't paid rent from her actual revenue in fourteen months, the building management has issued an immediate eviction notice and asset lock. By four o'clock today, her boutique inventory will be confiscated for auction."
Mark staggered back as if I had struck him. "You can't do that! She’ll be ruined! She has debts!"
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"Then you should pay them, Mark," I replied with a cold, devastating smile. "After all, you're the great hedge fund genius, aren't you? Go ahead. Save your sister."
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