Chapter 8 - The Fall of Vanessa Grant
While Claire sat surrounded by the protection of her brothers, the night was taking a very different turn for Vanessa Grant.
After fleeing the Ashbury Hotel in a panic, Vanessa had rushed back to her high-rise apartment in the Gold Coast neighborhood. Her heart was hammering against her ribs as she threw open her closet doors, grabbing two designer duffel bags and tossing in expensive jewelry, cash, and luxury handbags.
"Idiots," Vanessa muttered to herself, her hands shaking as she pulled a hidden passport from a locked drawer. "Total idiots."
She had known Ethan was a fool from the moment she met him eleven months ago. She had played him like a fiddle, stroking his fragile ego, convincing him that he was a business genius while slowly funneling millions of dollars out of his company accounts into her offshore setup. She had intended to leave him in another six months anyway, once the Riverfront deal was signed and the cash reserves were fully drained.
She snapped her duffel bag shut, pulled her coat over her shoulders, and grabbed her car keys. Her plan was simple: drive to Milwaukee, catch a late morning flight to Mexico, and disappear onto her yacht in Cabo.
She burst out of her apartment door and ran down the carpeted hallway toward the elevators.
When the elevator doors slid open on her floor, two men in dark gray suits were standing inside.
Vanessa froze.
"Miss Vanessa Grant?" one of the men asked calmly. He was tall, lean, and carried a thick leather folder.
"Who are you?" Vanessa demanded, taking a step back. "Security! Someone call security!"
"We are private investigators employed by Hale Security Solutions," the second man replied, stepping smoothly out of the elevator and blocking her exit down the hallway. "And your apartment building's security team works for a firm owned by Gabriel Hale. No one is coming to help you, Miss Grant."
The first investigator opened his folder, holding up a printout of bank transfer records.
"At 8:45 p.m. tonight, Hale Capital executed an emergency freezing order on all domestic and international accounts associated with Red Velvet Acquisitions LLC," the investigator stated smoothly. "Your villa in Cabo has been seized under a pre-judgment attachment order. Your yacht in Miami has been impounded by federal marshals."
Vanessa stared at them in sheer horror, her duffel bag slipping from her limp fingers and hitting the floor. "You... you can't freeze my accounts! I haven't been charged with anything!"
"You will be in approximately twenty minutes," the investigator replied, pointing down the hallway as two uniform Chicago police officers emerged from the stairwell.
"Vanessa Grant," the officer announced, stepping forward with handcuffs drawn. "You are under arrest for grand larceny, interstate wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit corporate embezzlement."
Vanessa stumbled backward until her spine hit the wall. "No! It was Ethan! Ethan authorized all of it! He was the CEO!"
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"Mr. Cole is currently in a interrogation room at the 1st District precinct giving a full, recorded confession that implicates you as the mastermind of the entire scheme," the officer said coldly, grabbing her wrist and snapping the steel cuff around her arm.
Vanessa began to scream and thrash as she was led down the hallway, her designer dress rumpled, her heels clicking uselessly against the floor as her life, like Ethan's, shattered into dust.
