Chapter 8 - Cornered
Special Agent Miller stepped behind Caleb, producing a pair of steel handcuffs.
"Caleb Sterling, you are under arrest for wire fraud, corporate embezzlement, securities manipulation, and conspiracy to commit aggravated bodily harm."
"Get your hands off me!" Caleb roared, violently twisting away from Miller’s grip. He knocked over his leather chair, lunging toward the glass double doors in a blind panic.
He burst out into the executive lobby, but Marcus and Lev were already waiting. Marcus caught Caleb by the throat in mid-stride, lifting him off the carpet and slamming him backward against the reinforced glass partition.
"Don't make this messy, boy," Marcus growled into his ear.
Caleb gasped for air, thrashing helplessly as the two federal agents caught up, wrenching his arms behind his back and clicking the steel cuffs tightly around his wrists. The cold click echoed down the marble hallway.
The entire 50th-floor staff had gathered around the lobby cubicles, watching in stunned silence as the once-untouchable managing director was pinned to the floor. Phones were held high, recording every second of his humiliation.
"Eleanor!" Caleb screamed, his face pressed flat against the cold marble floor, spit flying from his lips. "You can't do this to me! You carry my child! That baby has my blood! If you put me in prison, you destroy that kid's future!"
I walked out of the boardroom slowly, stepping until I stood right above him. I looked down at his contorted, sweat-soaked face with absolute detachment.
"My child will bear my father’s name, not yours," I said softly. "You will never see this baby. You will never sign a birth certificate, you will never step inside their school, and you will never hold their hand. As far as this child is concerned, their father died the same day my father did."
"I’ll kill you!" Caleb shrieked, his voice raw and breaking. "I’ll get out on bail! You hear me, Ellie? I’ll spend every dime to bury you!"
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"You don't have any dimes left, Mr. Sterling," Arthur Harlan called out from behind me, adjusting his glasses. "The freezing order applies to all domestic and offshore holdings. You are officially indigent. If you wish to enter a plea, the court will appoint a public defender."
The agents hauled Caleb to his feet. He looked broken, his suit torn, his expensive tie crooked, dragging his feet as they led him into the private service elevator down to the awaiting police convoy.
