Chapter 5 - The Police Trap
Panicked and running out of options, Vanessa ran out of the coffee shop and hailed a cab to meet Daniel at a rundown motel on the outskirts of the city—the only place Daniel had been able to book using the small amount of cash he had borrowed from an acquaintance.
The motel room smelled of stale tobacco and bleach. Daniel was sitting on the edge of the squeaky bed, his head in his hands, looking completely broken.
Vanessa burst through the door, slamming it behind her. "Daniel! You idiot! Look what your mother did!" She shoved her phone into his face, showing him the viral video and the news articles. "She leaked the camera footage! Everyone knows! The police have a warrant for my arrest!"
Daniel looked up, his eyes hollow. "She didn't leak it, Vanessa. Her law firm released it to the press alongside the official police report. We’re finished. My career is gone. The restaurant fired me. The trust is suing us for half a million dollars."
"I don't care about your restaurant!" Vanessa shrieked, pacing back and forth across the thin carpet. "We need money! We need to leave the state before the cops find me! Where is your personal savings?"
"I don't have any personal savings!" Daniel shouted back, jumping to his feet. "Every dollar I made went into buying your bloody bags, your jewelry, and your fake internet lifestyle! You spent it all!"
"Don't you dare blame me!" Vanessa yelled, stepping right into his face. "You were the one who told me your mother’s trust was bottomless! You promised me we’d inherit millions! You watched me pour that soup on her and you didn't say a damn word because you were scared of me!"
"Because you're a psycho!" Daniel screamed.
Before their argument could escalate further, the thin wooden door of the motel room was violently kicked open.
"POLICE! DON'T MOVE!"
Four armed police officers rushed into the room, their weapons trained on the couple. Behind them stood Investigator Miller, the lead detective assigned to my elder abuse case.
Vanessa shrieked and tried to run toward the bathroom, but an officer grabbed her arm, forcing her down onto the mattress and pulling her hands behind her back.
"Vanessa Hartwell, you are under arrest for Aggravated Assault, Elder Abuse, and Infliction of Severe Bodily Harm," Detective Miller announced, reading from a card. "Daniel Hartwell, you are under arrest for Felony Failure to Render Aid, Accomplice to Elder Abuse, and Grand Embezzlement."
Metal handcuffs clicked tightly around both of their wrists.
As the officers dragged Vanessa out of the motel, she caught sight of a local news crew standing near the parking lot, cameras flashing in the darkness.
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"Get those cameras out of my face!" Vanessa screamed, her hair wildly matted, tears ruining her expensive makeup. "It was an accident! She made bad soup! She's crazy!"
Daniel didn't yell. He hung his head low, weeping silently as he was pushed into the back of a police cruiser, finally realizing that the world he had built on cruelty had completely collapsed around him.
