Chapter 6 - The Long Walk Down
The double doors of the boardroom opened again. Two armed private security officers stepped into the room, followed by two uniformed officers from the Chicago Police Department.
""Timothy Miller, Diane Miller, and Bryce Miller,"" the lead officer said, pulling a folded set of documents from his jacket pocket. ""We have warrants for your arrest regarding grand larceny, wire fraud, and corporate embezzlement.""
Diane let out a shrill, piercing scream. ""Get your hands off me! Do you know who I am? I have friends on the city council! Tim, do something! Call our lawyer!""
""Our lawyer was retained through the company's executive legal plan, Mom,"" Tim muttered, his face turning an ashen, sickly gray. His hands trembled violently as the police officer instructed him to turn around and place his hands behind his back. ""They've already cancelled the policy.""
""Precisely,"" Arthur Vance noted dryly.
Bryce didn't even put up a fight. He simply slumped against the wall, allowing the second officer to snap the cold steel cuffs around his wrists. Lauren slid to her knees on the floor, weeping hysterically, begging my father for mercy.
""Mr. Preston, please! I only signed the invoices because Tim told me he would fire me if I didn't! I didn't keep any of the money! Please don't send me to jail!""
My father looked down at her with a mixture of pity and disappointment. ""You had a choice, Lauren. When you suspected fraud, your obligation was to this company and to the woman who took you into her home when your own family left you with sixty thousand dollars in high-interest debt. Instead, you chose to protect your brother’s theft.""
He paused, glancing at Arthur. ""Because Miss Lauren Miller was not a primary shareholder in Apex Hauling and appears to have acted under duress, we will allow her to cooperate fully with federal prosecutors as an unindicted co-conspirator. But your employment here is terminated immediately, effective this second. Marcus will escort you from the premises.""
Lauren nodded frantically through her tears. ""Thank you, Mr. Preston. Thank you, Jenna... I'm so sorry. I am so, so sorry.""
As the officers led Tim, Diane, and Bryce toward the executive elevator bank, Tim stopped at the threshold. He turned back, his expensive coat now rumpled, his hair disheveled, the handcuffs gleaming starkly against his tailored shirt cuffs.
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""You ruined me, Jenna,"" he spat, venom dripping from every syllable. ""You planned this. You let me walk into this trap.""
""No, Tim,"" I said quietly, standing up from the table. ""You dug this pit with your own hands. You just thought that when you shoved me into it, my father wouldn't be standing right behind me.""
