Agent Miller: Beatrice Sterling, you are under arrest for kidnapping, felony extortion, wire fraud, and aggravated child abuse.
Beatrice: You have no right to touch me! Call my attorney, Arthur Pendelton, right now!
Agent Miller: Mr. Pendelton was taken into custody thirty minutes ago at his Dallas law office for forging the conservatorship documents. Move your feet, ma'am.
Beatrice sobbed loudly as the cold steel handcuffs clicked around her wrists. She was led down the stone driveway, her emerald gown dragging through the gravel before she was pushed into the back of the waiting SUV.
Ethan turned back inside the mansion, shutting the heavy wooden doors behind him, shutting out the sirens and the nightmare forever. Clara was already wrapped tightly in Victoria's arms on the living room sofa, her small hands clutching her mother's dirt-streaked face.
Clara: Mommy, your hands are so cold.
Victoria: They're getting warm now, my darling. They're getting warm because you're holding them.
Ethan knelt in front of both of them, burying his face into Victoria's neck, his broad shoulders shaking with silent, exhausted sobs.
Ethan: I am so sorry, Victoria. I should have turned that car around at the airport. I should have walked you inside the terminal myself.
Victoria: You didn't know, Ethan. She had forged my handwriting on private letters. She told you I needed space to heal from my sister's death.
Ethan: When Clara called my private office line an hour ago whispering that she heard your voice through the floorboard grates, my soul went cold. I broke every speed limit in Dallas getting here.
Victoria: Clara saved my life. If she hadn't refused to leave that hatch today, Beatrice was planning to move me out of state tonight.
Clara: She had big black suitcases by the garage door, Daddy. She said Mommy was going to take a long train ride.
Ethan gently touched Clara’s swollen cheek, kissing the tender skin with endless tenderness.
Ethan: You were the bravest girl in the world today, Clara. You saved our entire family.
Clara: Will the bad lady ever come back here?
Ethan: Never again, baby. Beatrice will spend the rest of her natural life behind bars. The FBI has three years of her forged bank records, and the prosecutor already denied bail.
The paramedics arrived quietly through the open doorway, carrying medical kits and warm emergency blankets.
Paramedic Davis: Mr. Vance? We need to transport Mrs. Vance to Dallas Presbyterian for hydration and evaluation.
Ethan: Of course. Clara and I are coming with her.
Victoria: Ethan... hold my hand on the way out. Don't let go.
Ethan: I will never let go of your hand again, Victoria. Never as long as I live.
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