Chapter 7 - Fluorescent Nightmares
|
The words hit the grand foyer like a bomb.
"An ambulance?!" Celeste screamed, stumbling down the stairs. "Why does she need an ambulance? She's fine! She just fell off her bike last week!"
"She has internal bruising, extensive soft-tissue damage, and evidence of untreated fractures on her ribs," Sarah Chen snapped, her eyes burning with fury as she looked at Grant. "You monsters."
Grant lost his composure completely. He lunged toward Sarah, but Marcus and two uniformed officers tackled him to the marble floor. The sound of his silver water glass shattering against the tile echoed through the house as they wrestled his arms behind his back.
"Get your hands off me!" Grant roared, his face pressed against the cold stone. "Evan! You backstabber! I made you! I protected this family!"
"You didn't protect anyone, Grant," I said quietly, looking down at him as the metallic click of handcuffs echoed through the room. "You just built a bigger cage."
By 2:00 a.m., I was sitting in the emergency waiting room at Denver Children’s Hospital. The harsh fluorescent lighting made everything look cold and sterile.
Detective Marcus Reed walked over, carrying two paper cups of terrible machine coffee. He handed one to me and sat down in the plastic chair beside mine.
"Celeste broke in the interrogation room twenty minutes ago," Marcus said, taking a slow sip. "She gave up everything."
"What did she say?" I asked, my voice raspy.
"Grant implemented what he called 'regimental discipline' two years ago," Marcus explained, shaking his head in disgust. "Whenever Lila failed to perform to his standards in school, posture, or obedience, he used wooden rods and locked her in a basement storage closet for hours. Celeste was too terrified of losing her lifestyle—and too scared of Grant—to stop it."
May you like
"Where is he now?"
"County jail. No bail requested yet. But Evan..." Marcus paused, looking at me gravely. "He’s already making calls from the processing unit. His legal team is assembling. This isn't going to be a simple trial. He's going to throw every dollar he has at destroying you."
