Chapter 9: The Fall of the Empire's Traitor
Chapter 9: The Fall of the Empire's Traitor
Cornered and completely undone by her own recorded confession, Eleanor made a frantic, desperate dash toward her private executive office door, reaching into her purse for a small silver hand-gun she kept concealed in her bag.
"Don't move!" Federal Agent Vance barked, drawing his service weapon and stepping directly into her path. "Drop the weapon, Eleanor Sterling!"
Eleanor froze, her trembling fingers clutching the gun as she looked around the room. The board members she had manipulated now looked at her with pure disdain; the federal agents were pointing weapons at her chest; and Isabella stood unshaken, looking at her with quiet pity.
"You ruined everything..." Eleanor whimpered, tears of rage smearing her dark eye makeup. "It was supposed to be mine! Father loved Richard more! He gave him everything!"
"Father gave Richard the company because Richard had a heart," Arthur said firmly from the foot of the table. "You only had greed."
Agent Vance stepped forward, swiftly disarming Eleanor and twisting her arms behind her back as heavy steel handcuffs clicked loudly around her wrists.
"Eleanor Sterling, you are under arrest for attempted murder, grand larceny, corporate fraud, and obstruction of justice," the agent recited, dragging the kicking, screaming woman out through the double doors in full view of the media cameras waiting in the lobby.
As Eleanor was loaded into the back of a federal police cruiser on the street below, reporters swarmed the steps of the skyscraper.
Isabella stepped out onto the grand marble plaza, surrounded by federal agents and Arthur. The sun had finally broken through the rain clouds, bathing the city in warm, golden morning light.
May you like
She looked directly into the news cameras, her voice calm and filled with dignity.
"The truth has been spoken today," Isabella announced to the nation. "My husband Richard Sterling is safe, recovering under expert medical care, and our family will heal. The darkness that tried to destroy us has failed."
