Chapter 4 - The Midnight Extraction
I stared at the trooper's weapon in sheer, unadulterated confusion.
"Put your hands behind your back, Ms. Vance," the trooper ordered aggressively.
"There must be a mistake, I am an Assistant Attorney General," I pleaded desperately.
The trooper pulled a folded warrant from his tactical vest and held it up to the porch light.
"Your brother filed charges against you two hours ago," he explained coldly.
"He provided video evidence of you stealing your mother's jewelry and forcing her to sign documents."
Julian had manipulated the security cameras in the house to perfectly frame me for his own crimes.
He had anticipated my interference and set a brilliant trap before I even arrived for the birthday visit.
The second trooper grabbed my arms and locked heavy steel handcuffs around my wrists.
My mother screamed and tried to pull the officers away from me.
"She is lying!" my mother cried out, pointing a shaking finger back at the house.
Julian walked out onto the porch, gracefully dabbing his bleeding jaw with a white towel.
He looked like a perfect, concerned victim standing in the soft porch light.
"Thank you for stopping her, officers," Julian said smoothly.
"She has been exploiting our mother's dementia for years to fund her political campaigns."
The troopers pushed me into the back of a police cruiser and slammed the heavy door shut.
I watched helplessly through the barred window as Julian gently guided my weeping mother back into the dark house.
The police car sped away from the neighborhood, taking me straight toward the county jail.
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I realized I was completely trapped in a corrupt local system that Julian had already bought.
Suddenly, the police cruiser violently swerved off the road and crashed into a deep muddy ditch.
