Chapter 7 - The Arrest at the Plaza
By 6:00 PM that evening, the news broke across every major financial network and regional news station.
VANGUARD HEALTH TERMINATES VP OF PROCUREMENT AMID $40M FEDERAL BRIBERY PROBE; VANCE MEDICAL DISQUALIFIED.
While Julian was hiding in his attorney's office downtown trying to secure bail funds for his impending criminal indictment, Victoria Vance was attempting a very different kind of exit.
She was staying at the Four Seasons downtown, rushing around her luxury suite in a frantic attempt to pack three designer suitcases before federal marshals or news cameras could track her down. Her corporate phone was ringing off the hook—messages from her CEO, her board of directors, and her personal legal counsel, all informing her that her employment had been terminated and her corporate credit lines revoked.
She zipped her final leather bag, grabbed her trench coat, and pulled open the door of her suite—only to freeze dead in her tracks.
Standing in the carpeted hallway were four individuals: two plainclothes officers from the Chicago Police Department’s Special Victims Unit, a federal agent from the SEC Enforcement Division, and my sister, Clara.
Victoria backed up a step, her face draining of color. "What is this? I’m checking out. You have no right—"
"Victoria Vance?" the lead SVU detective asked, stepping into the entryway and pulling a pair of steel handcuffs from his belt. "You are being placed under arrest as a co-conspirator in an aggravated domestic assault, felony evidence tampering, and federal commercial bribery."
"Assault?!" Victoria shrieked, her haughty composure shattering into wild, high-pitched panic. "I didn't touch her! Julian hit her! I was just sitting on the bed! I didn't do anything!"
Clara stepped forward, her posture radiating cold, legal disdain. "You watched a woman being brutally assaulted to protect evidence of a federal crime, Victoria. Under Illinois state law, sitting by, encouraging the attacker, and retaining the stolen proprietary documents makes you an active accomplice to felony battery and obstruction of justice."
"This is ridiculous! Do you know who I am?!" Victoria screamed as the detective grabbed her manicured wrists and clicked the steel cuffs around them. "My father is on the board of—"
"Your father’s company just issued a press release stripping you of all corporate indemnification," the SEC agent interrupted dryly. "You’re on your own, Ms. Vance."
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As they escorted a sobbing, hysterical Victoria down the grand elevator of the Four Seasons in handcuffs, news reporters who had been tipped off by Clara’s office were waiting in the lobby. The cameras flashed violently, capturing the exact moment the polished, untouchable supplier representative was loaded into the back of a police cruiser in tears.
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