Chapter 7 - The Final Stand
The syndicate enforcers immediately scattered into the dense, snowy woods like terrified ghosts.
They wanted absolutely nothing to do with a heavily armed tactical police unit arriving on the scene.
My father fell weakly to his knees in the snow, weeping heavy tears of pure, desperate relief.
He truly believed the police had arrived just in time to rescue him from the mob execution.
A dozen heavily armored SWAT officers swarmed the porch, aiming their tactical rifles directly at my terrified family.
"Get down on the ground and put your hands behind your head right now!" the lead officer bellowed through a megaphone.
My father frantically complied with the order, pressing his face deep into the freezing white snow.
Olivia dropped heavily to her knees beside her unconscious mother, crying hysterically into the cold night.
The officers roughly secured my father's hands tightly behind his back with thick plastic cuffs.
Michael, my brilliant former military attorney, stepped calmly out of the mobile command vehicle.
He wore a sharp wool overcoat and carried a thick, official manila folder tucked safely under his arm.
Michael walked slowly over to my father and looked down at him with an expression of cold, professional pity.
"Richard, you are under arrest for breaking and entering, federal trespassing, and attempted grand larceny."
My father violently twisted his head to look up at the lawyer with wide, panicked eyes.
"I am her father, this is just a simple family dispute over a house!" my father screamed frantically.
Michael slowly shook his head and opened the manila folder to reveal a stack of legal documents.
"You broke into a federally protected military property and caused extensive malicious damage to the infrastructure."
"The interior smart-cameras recorded you violently destroying walls and attempting to steal government assets."
Olivia sobbed loudly and begged Michael to show some mercy and let her and her mother go.
"We did not know any of this, he lied to us completely about owning the house!" Olivia pleaded desperately.
Michael looked down at her with a completely unreadable, stoic expression.
"Ignorance of the law is not a valid defense for illegally occupying a restricted military installation."
The officers began dragging my loudly protesting father toward the back of the armored transport vehicle.
He screamed my name furiously into the cold night air, cursing me loudly for ruining his entire life.
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Olivia stood up slowly, shivering violently and looking completely broken by the night's events.
"I still have the signed deed of transfer proving she gave us the house!" Olivia suddenly shouted, pulling a crumpled paper from her pocket.
