Chapter 4 - THE TIDE TURNS9
The double doors of the library swung open with a heavy bang. Two uniformed police officers stepped inside, followed by a tall, stern-faced man in a tailored grey suit. He held a leather-bound folder in his hand and wore a gold badge pinned to his belt.
"Calvin Miller? Tabitha Vance?" Detective Vance’s voice was like gravel, clear and commandingly loud.
Tabitha backed away toward the floor-to-ceiling windows, her hands up as if she could shield herself from the impending nightmare. "There’s been a mistake! This is a private family dispute regarding an estate! You have no right to be in this house!"
"Ma'am, keep your hands where I can see them," the detective said, stepping into the middle of the room. "We are executing an arrest warrant issued by the State Prosecutor's Office. Calvin Miller, you are under arrest for grand larceny, corporate embezzlement, and filing false legal declarations."
"No! No!" Calvin screamed, pushing his chair back so violently it overturned onto the hardwood floor. He scrambled backward, pointing an erratic finger at me. "She set me up! Paige framed me! My father-in-law was insane! He was out of his mind when he made those recordings!"
"Save it for your arraignment, Mr. Miller," Detective Vance replied coldly. He nodded to the two officers.
The officers moved in quickly. Within seconds, Calvin was pinned against the edge of the mahogany desk—the very desk where he had just signed his life away. The metallic click of handcuffs snapping around his wrists echoed through the high-ceilinged room.
"Paige! Please!" Calvin begged, his face pressed flat against the polished oak, tears leaking from the corners of his eyes. "Tell them to stop! I'm sorry! I'll give everything back! The money, the shares, everything! Just don't do this to me!"
I walked over to him slowly. I leaned down until my face was just inches from his pleading eyes.
"Twelve years, Calvin," I whispered softly. "I gave you twelve years of my life. I stood by you when you had nothing. And you tossed me aside like garbage for a woman who helped you rob my dying father. You made your bed. Now you get to rot in it."
"Paige!" he sobbed as the officers yanked him off the table and pulled him toward the door.
"And as for you, Ms. Reed," Detective Vance said, turning his gaze toward Tabitha.
Tabitha’s eyes darted frantically around the room, looking for an exit that didn't exist. "I didn't sign anything! You have nothing on me! I'm not a member of Vance Enterprises! You can't charge me with corporate fraud!"
"No," Penelope interjected, holding up a fresh stack of documents from her bag. "But we can charge you with tax evasion, conspiracy to commit grand larceny, and extortion. Your personal accounts in the Cayman Islands were flagged by the IRS three hours ago, Tabitha. The paper trail links directly to the offshore accounts you opened using stolen Vance funds."
Tabitha’s composure shattered completely. The polished, elegant facade she had worn like armor fell away, revealing a desperate, wild monster underneath. She lunged forward, her fingers clawed like talons, screaming at me.
"You bitch! You ugly, pathetic bitch! You think you won?! You're nothing without your daddy! He's dead! He's dead and you're still just a gardener!"
Before she could reach me, Kyle stepped smoothly between us. He grabbed her wrists mid-air, squeezing with enough force to stop her in her tracks, and pushed her back toward the waiting officer.
"Get your filthy hands off me!" Tabitha shrieked as the officer snapped handcuffs around her wrists. Her designer coat was torn at the shoulder, her perfectly styled hair falling over her face in frantic, wild strands. "I'll sue you! I'll sue every single one of you! I'll burn this house to the ground!"
"Take them away," Detective Vance commanded.
The officers dragged Calvin and Tabitha down the long marble hallway. Their screaming voices, filled with rage and terror, echoed off the high walls until the grand front door slammed shut behind them, plunging the house into a profound, heavy silence.
I stood in the middle of the library, my chest heaving as the adrenaline slowly began to bleed out of my veins. The rain outside had lessened to a gentle drizzle, light breaking through the grey clouds and washing the dark room in a pale, golden light.
Kyle walked up beside me. He looked older, tired, lines of exhaustion etched around his eyes. He pulled a plain white envelope from his inner pocket and held it out to me.
"What's this?" I asked softly.
"My resignation," Kyle said, his voice barely audible. "And my resignation from the trust board. I did what Dad asked me to do, Paige. I played the turncoat so Tabitha would trust me. I let them think I was greedy so they wouldn't look for the real trap. But I hated every second of it. I hated letting you think I had abandoned you."
I looked down at the envelope, then up into my brother's eyes. I saw the true pain in them—the weight he had carried alone for six months while our father lay dying.
"Dad knew you were strong enough to bear it," I said quietly.
"I was so scared I’d lose you, Paige," Kyle whispered, his voice cracking with emotion. "When Dad told me the plan, I told him it was too dangerous. I told him Tabitha was too smart. But Dad just laughed. He said, 'Tabitha is greedy, and greedy people are never smart. They are just loud.'"
I pulled my brother into a tight embrace. He buried his face in my shoulder, his arms wrapping tightly around me as he let out a shuddering breath he had been holding for months.
"It's over, Kyle," I whispered into his hair. "It's finally over."
"Not quite, Paige," Penelope said from behind us, her tone grave and serious.
We broke apart and turned to look at her. Penelope was standing by the desk, holding a red folder that had remained sealed until now.
"What is that?" I asked, a knot of fresh anxiety tightening in my stomach.
"This," Penelope said, "is the second part of your father's instructions. The part he instructed me to give you only after Calvin and Tabitha were taken into police custody."
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She slid the red folder across the table toward me.
"Your father didn't just investigate Calvin and Tabitha, Paige," Penelope said softly. "He discovered who was funding them from the outside. Tabitha wasn't working alone. She was a pawn for someone much bigger. Someone who wants Vance Enterprises destroyed completely."
