The Price Of Greed

Victoria tried to scramble backward, her expensive heels slipping against the spilled bourbon.

Victoria: Roman, please! We were engaged for two years! You loved me once, you can't do this to me!

Roman: I loved the woman I thought you were. Not the parasite who targets working-class children to pay off gambling debts.

Roman reached down with one hand, grabbed Victoria by the upper arm with an iron grip, and hoisted her straight off the floor.

Victoria: Let go! Take your filthy hands off my clothes!

Roman: Move your feet, or I will drag you through the front gate myself.

He pulled her out of the study and down the long hallway, her designer shoes skidding uselessly against the polished floor.

Downstairs in the grand foyer, four uniformed Dallas police officers and two private security guards stood waiting by the entrance.

Victoria: Officers! Arrest him! He assaulted me! Look at my arm, look at my cheek!

Officer Davis stepped forward, holding a thick folder filled with printouts and bank records.

Officer Davis: Miss Vance, we have three signed warrants for your arrest for aggravated kidnapping, wire fraud, and extortion.

Victoria: Those are lies! Roman fabricated all of it to steal my inheritance!

Officer Davis: Your brother already confessed at the precinct fifteen minutes ago. He gave us your text messages, your bank transfers, and the key to the warehouse.

Victoria's jaw dropped, her breath catching in her throat as the realization finally crashed down on her.

Victoria: Julian... Julian rat me out?

Roman: Julian didn't want to spend twenty years in a federal penitentiary for your greed.

Roman released her arm, shoving her firmly toward the waiting officers.

Metal clicked sharply as Officer Davis pulled a pair of steel handcuffs from his utility belt and snapped them around Victoria’s wrists.

Victoria: No! Get these off me! You can't put me in handcuffs! Do you know who my father is?!

Officer Davis: You have the right to remain silent, Miss Vance. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.

Victoria: Roman, tell them to stop! I'll give back the money! I'll sign the full release of the estate!

Roman: You don't have any money to give back. The state seized your offshore accounts five minutes ago to cover the restitution fund.

Victoria screamed in furious outrage as the two officers gripped her by the elbows and led her out the heavy double doors into the bright Texas sun.

The loud thud of the mansion doors closing shut echoed through the silence of the marble entrance.

Roman stood by the arched window, watching through the glass as Victoria was forced into the back of the police cruiser.

Sadie slowly stepped down the grand staircase, still clutching her bruised hands together, completely overwhelmed.

Sadie: Mr. Sterling... I don't know what to say. I don't have any way to repay you for what you did today.

Roman turned around, his stern expression softening slightly as he looked at the young woman.

Roman: You don't owe me a dime, Sadie.

Sadie: But the police... the tactical team... you moved heaven and earth just for my little brother.

Roman: In this house, we protect our own. And nobody threatens family under my roof.