Chapter 7 - The Downfall of a Socialite
The arrest of Vanessa Sterling became the biggest scandal the city had seen in a decade.
The media, which had originally run headlines painting Lily as a "homeless kidnapper," had to completely rewrite the narrative. By morning, the papers were filled with images of Vanessa being led out of her penthouse in handcuffs, her face covered by a designer coat to hide her shame from the flashing cameras.
May you like
The audit revealed that Vanessa had been embezzling millions from Daniel’s luxury hotel foundations to pay off her family's hidden real estate debts in Europe. The abandonment of Noah hadn't just been panic; it was a desperate attempt to keep her financial fraud from being exposed during a medical emergency.
Vanessa's wealthy friends vanished overnight. Her name was scrubbed from every charity board in the country. The woman who had told Lily that girls like her end up exactly where they belong was now sitting in a state holding facility, awaiting a trial that carried a maximum twenty-year sentence.
