Chapter 8 - The Ruin of Gertrude and Prudence
Gertrude’s own voice filled the conference room, loud, clear, and dripping with malicious intent.
The recording played for five straight minutes. It detailed her plotting with Prudence to keep Sarah isolated, her threats to use Michael's money to steal Jamie away, and her admissions that they were using Sarah as slave labor to keep the house clean for their high-society guests.
By the time the recording finished, the conference room was as silent as a graveyard.
Henderson, their lawyer, looked at the documents, looked at his clients, and slowly closed his briefcase. "Mrs. Vance... Miss Vance... you did not inform me of these circumstances."
"She lied!" Prudence screamed, pointing a trembling, manicured finger at Sarah. "She recorded us illegally! That's not admissible!"
"In a civil matter, perhaps we'd argue it," Arthur Vance said calmly. "But see, we aren't settling a civil matter today. About twenty minutes ago, I forwarded these identical files to the District Attorney’s office."
The heavy double doors of the conference room opened. Two plainclothes detectives from the Bayside Heights Police Department stepped into the room.
"Gertrude Vance? Prudence Vance?" the lead detective asked, pulling out two sets of steel handcuffs. "You are under arrest for grand larceny, criminal child endangerment, and human labor trafficking."
Gertrude let out a guttural shriek as the cold steel clamped around her wrists. "Michael! I am your mother! You can't do this to me! You're a monster! A monster!"
Prudence was sobbing hysterically as she was pulled from her chair, her expensive designer dress wrinkling under the firm grip of the detective. "Sarah, please! Tell them to stop! Michael, we're family!"
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I stood up, walking over to the edge of the table, looking down at the two women who had shared my blood but possessed none of my humanity.
"Family doesn't starve a child," I said, my voice echoing with absolute finality. "Family doesn't enslave a mother. Goodbye, Gertrude. Goodbye, Prudence. Enjoy the state's hospitality."
