Chapter 10 - The Net Tightens
Victoria gasped, dropping her champagne flute. The crystal shattered on the polished floor, sparking sparkling wine across her designer pumps.
"Robert?" Lewis stammered, scrambling to his feet, knocking his chair back. "What is the meaning of this? This is a private club!"
Robert stopped two feet from the table. He looked down at the documents, then directly into Lewis’s terrified eyes.
"You like signing documents, Lewis?" Robert asked, his voice smooth as silk and cold as grave dirt. "Sign this one."
Robert slapped a thick, red-stamped federal indictment notice directly on top of the Apex loan paperwork.
"What is this nonsense?" Victoria shrieked, recovering her haughty composure, though her voice wobbled. "Security! Get this lunatic out of here! He's trespassing!"
None of the club staff moved. Standing by the entryway were two uniformed New York State Troopers, their hands resting calmly on their utility belts.
"Victoria Dudley," Marcus Vance’s voice echoed across the vaulted dining room as he walked in, displaying a laminated court order. "I am serving you with an immediate federal asset freeze, an emergency stay on title deed transfers for the 84th Street condominium, and a felony arrest warrant for extortion, grand larceny, and felony assault."
Gasps erupted from the surrounding tables. Prominent judges, hedge fund managers, and society matrons stared openly at Victoria, whose face turned the color of chalk.
"This is an outrage!" Lewis shouted, his voice cracking. "I am an officer of the court! I haven't done anything wrong! Chloe signed that deed willingly! She had an emotional breakdown and attacked my mother!"
"Really?" Robert took out his phone, touched the screen, and placed it face-up on the loan officer’s table.
The audio of Lewis’s threat from Chloe's phone at 4:00 AM played at full volume through a portable speaker Vance set down:
*“Listen to me, you stupid bitch... You're my wife now... We have debts, Chloe. Do you think I married a middle-class girl for fun? Sign it.”*
Every single person in the Briarwood dining room heard it.
The Apex loan broker immediately pulled his pen back, picked up his briefcase, and stood up. "The deal is terminated, Mr. Dudley. We do not do business with felons."
"Wait! Mr. Harrison, wait!" Victoria lunged forward, grabbing the broker's sleeve, but a state trooper stepped in between them.
"Mrs. Dudley, hands behind your back," the trooper commanded.
"Don't touch me!" Victoria screamed, flailing her manicured hands. "Lewis, do something! Call Senator Campbell! Call him!"
May you like
Lewis didn't call anyone. While the troopers moved in to cuff his hysterical mother, Lewis glanced toward the terrace doors leading out to the manicured golf course.
With the desperate speed of a cornered animal, Lewis bolted.
