Chapter 5 - The Locked Ward
The cold steel of the handcuffs bit painfully into Sarah's wrists.
She was dragged out of her hospital bed while still wearing her ruined wedding dress.
"I am innocent!" Sarah screamed as they pulled her down the corridor.
Detective Miller stepped in front of the federal agents to block their path.
"You have no concrete evidence tying her to the poison," Miller argued fiercely.
The lead agent shoved a signed warrant directly into Miller's chest.
"We found the empty vials of the synthetic toxin hidden in her bridal suite," the agent sneered.
David and Vanessa had meticulously planted the evidence to ensure her downfall.
They threw Sarah into the back of a heavily armored transport van.
She was not taken to a standard police precinct.
Instead, the van pulled up to the imposing gates of the state psychiatric asylum.
David's forged medical records had legally classified her as criminally insane.
Guards stripped away her wedding dress and forced her into a scratchy gray uniform.
They locked her inside a tiny, windowless concrete cell with a single mattress.
Sarah sat on the floor, weeping violently as the sheer hopelessness crushed her spirit.
She had lost her husband, her father, her company, and now her freedom.
Three torturous days passed in absolute, deafening silence.
On the fourth night, the heavy metal slot on her cell door slid open.
A female guard slipped a folded piece of paper onto the floor and walked away.
Sarah crawled over and opened the crumpled note with trembling fingers.
It was written in Detective Miller's unmistakable handwriting.
"David filed the paperwork to take control of your father's company tomorrow morning," the note read.
"But I found a critical flaw in Vanessa's alibi," the message continued.
"The little boy at the wedding is not David's son," Miller revealed in the letter.
Sarah gasped and read the final line of the secret note.
"The boy was kidnapped from a foster home, and Vanessa is not his mother."
A massive surge of adrenaline completely erased Sarah's despair.
She was not dealing with a bitter ex-lover and a cheating husband.
She was dealing with professional con artists running a massive criminal syndicate.
Suddenly, the heavy iron door of her cell loudly unlocked and swung wide open.
Vanessa stood in the doorway wearing a luxurious designer coat and a wicked smile.
"Hello, Sarah," Vanessa purred, stepping into the dim cell.
May you like
Vanessa pulled a sharp, silver syringe from her designer handbag.
"It is time for your final medication," Vanessa whispered softly.
