"Lieutenant Rodriguez," Agent Vance said firmly. "Take those cuffs off Laura Mercer-Jennings immediately."
Officer Miller hesitated, looking frantically at his precinct commander. Rodriguez didn't wait; he stepped forward himself, pulled out his master key, and unlocked the shackles from Laura's wrists.
"What is the meaning of this?!" David yelled, backing up against the wall as if trying to shrink away from the federal badges. "I am a major contributor to the state attorney's office! My family built this county! Victoria, do something!"
Victoria Vance took three quick steps backward, actively putting distance between herself and David. "David, keep your mouth shut right now. Don't say another word."
"Victoria?" David gasped, looking at his mistress in utter disbelief.
"Victoria Vance," Agent Jenkins said, pulling a document from her folder. "You are being served with a federal subpoena for grand jury testimony regarding wire fraud, evidence tampering, and illegal access to federal law enforcement databases. The dispatch record altered this morning came from a terminal logged into your law firm’s IP address."
Victoria’s posture collapsed. She dropped her leather binder onto the floor, her face pale as a sheet.
"You bitched at me to make that call!" Victoria snapped, turning on David with sudden, vicious ferocity. "You told me she was going to ruin us! You said your mother had everything handled!"
"Shut your mouth, Victoria!" Eleanor shrieked, her aristocratic demeanor completely evaporating into frantic panic. "You incompetent tramp! You ruined everything!"
Laura stood up from the steel table, slowly rubbing her sore wrists where the steel had bitten into her skin. She looked at the three of them—her husband, his mistress, and his mother—tearing each other apart like wild dogs in a cage.
Agent Vance stepped toward Laura, his expression turning serious. "Laura... we executed the secondary search warrant on the Naples mansion thirty minutes ago. We found the toxicological evidence in the cellar, just like you predicted. But... we found something else in your father's private filing safe."
Laura stopped rubbing her wrist. Her heart gave a sudden, hard thud against her ribs. "What do you mean? What else?"
Agent Vance looked at Eleanor, who had suddenly sunk into one of the metal chairs, her hands trembling uncontrollably.
"Laura," Agent Vance said softly. "David wasn't trying to lock you away just to steal your father's twelve-million-dollar estate. It’s much worse than that."
Laura felt the temperature in the room plunge. She turned her gaze from the FBI agent back to Eleanor, whose head was bowed, staring at the floorboards as if expecting the ground to open up and swallow her whole.
"What did you find in the safe, Agent Vance?" Laura asked, her voice quiet, almost fragile for the very first time.
"We found your original adoption decree and a sealed trust document dated thirty-four years ago," Agent Vance explained, holding up a yellowed paper enclosed in a plastic evidence bag. "Jennings Properties isn't broke, Laura. David lied to you about the company's financials. Jennings Properties has over fifty million dollars in liquid commercial assets."
Laura’s brow furrowed in confusion. "Then why? If they had money... why go through this elaborate scheme to frame me? Why poison my father? Why try to put me in a psychiatric ward?"
"Because Jennings Properties doesn't belong to Eleanor," Agent Vance dropped the bombshell. "And it doesn't belong to David."
David looked at his mother, his eyes wide, completely lost. "What are you talking about? My father built Jennings Properties!"
"Your father didn't build it alone, David," Agent Vance said, looking down at the broken young man. "The company was founded by Eleanor’s late sister, Catherine Jennings. When Catherine died in a hit-and-run accident thirty-four years ago, her entire controlling interest in the company was placed into a blind, irrevocable trust for her only surviving infant child."
Laura felt her breath catch in her throat. She looked at the plastic evidence bag, then back at Eleanor. "Catherine's child..."
"Catherine’s baby didn't die in that car crash, Laura," Agent Vance said softly, his voice echoing in the small room. "Judge Thomas Mercer was the lawyer who handled Catherine's estate. When he realized Eleanor was trying to sell off her dead sister's assets, he legally adopted Catherine's newborn baby girl to protect her identity and her life. That baby... was you, Laura."