Chapter 7 - The Arrest
Uncle Jake didn't hurry. He casually walked over to the bedside tray, picked up his two hearing aids, and inserted them back into his ears with practiced precision.
He walked over to the heavy door, unlocked the brass handle, and pulled it open.
Standing in the brightly lit hospital corridor were four uniformed Chicago Police officers, two plainclothes detectives, and a tall, sharp-looking woman in a dark gray business suit holding a leather briefcase.
The woman in the suit was Detective Sarah Vance—Judge Marcus Vance’s eldest daughter, and the chief investigator for the Cook County State's Attorney's Special Victims Unit.
Detective Vance stepped into the room, her sharp eyes instantly taking in the scene: Richard Collins weeping on his knees, Victoria collapsed on the sofa, Ethan coughing on the floor, and me sitting in the bed with five dark finger bruises visible on my throat.
She didn't ask a single question. She pulled a digital recorder from her coat pocket, clicked it on, and turned to the uniformed officers behind her.
"Take Dr. Ethan Collins into custody," Detective Vance ordered crisply. "Aggravated domestic battery, felony strangulation, and corporate harassment."
Two officers stepped forward, pulled Ethan up from the floor, forced his arms behind his back, and snapped heavy steel handcuffs around his wrists.
CLICK-CLACK.
"Wait! You can't arrest me!" Ethan screamed, his voice cracking into a high-pitched whine as he tried to pull away. "My father is Richard Collins! We own this hospital! We have lawyers!"
"Your father’s personal accounts were frozen twenty minutes ago, Dr. Collins," Detective Vance replied coldly, handing a blue folder to the officer. "And your lead defense attorney, Mr. Harrison, was detained by federal agents at O'Hare Airport ten minutes ago trying to board a private flight to Zurich."
Ethan’s mouth fell open. He looked at his father, but Richard was staring uselessly at the floor, his spirit completely broken, his mind shattered by the absolute speed of his family's destruction.
"As for you, Mr. Collins," Detective Vance said, looking down at Richard. "Federal marshals are waiting downstairs in the lobby to serve you with an arrest warrant for enterprise corruption and federal tax evasion. I suggest you get off the floor and put your shoes on."
The officers pulled Ethan out into the hallway. As he was paraded past the open door, his eyes locked onto mine one last time.
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There was no arrogance left in his eyes. No cruelty. No pride. There was only the hollow, terrifying realization that he had lost his money, his freedom, his reputation, and his child in a single afternoon.
I didn't say a word to him. I simply lifted my hand, pulled Emma’s pink blanket slightly higher over her warm shoulder, and turned my back on him forever.
