Chapter 15 - The Gala
Margaret Prescott walked into the grand ballroom as though nothing had happened.
Eight hundred people watched her.
Cameras flashed.
Reporters shouted questions.
She wore silver.
She smiled.
It was a performance built from forty years of believing she could control a room.
Ethan stood beside her.
Brandon did not.
He had entered a cooperation agreement that afternoon.
Not immunity.
Cooperation.
He admitted helping confine Emily.
He admitted destroying evidence.
He admitted delivering money.
And he agreed to testify against Margaret and Ethan.
Margaret called him a coward.
Brandon called it survival.
Emily watched the gala broadcast from a secure location.
I sat beside her.
Rachel stood behind us.
Agent Brooks was not there.
At least not officially.
Margaret approached the podium.
"My family has recently become the victim of a vicious campaign."
She paused for cameras.
"A campaign built on stolen documents, manipulated recordings, and personal revenge."
Then the screens behind her changed.
A photograph of Emily appeared.
Beside it was a headline accusing her of extortion.
Emily gripped my hand.
Margaret continued.
"We will not be intimidated."
Then every screen went black.
Margaret turned.
Confusion crossed her face.
A new video appeared.
Not one we had released.
Samantha Reed appeared on all twelve ballroom screens.
The room erupted.
Margaret froze.
Samantha spoke from a prerecorded statement authorized for release only after she entered federal protection.
"My name is Samantha Reed."
"For two years, people connected to the Prescott family told the public I had voluntarily disappeared."
"I did not."
"I was detained."
"Threatened."
"And forced into hiding."
Guests began standing.
Reporters rushed toward the stage.
Samantha continued.
"I have provided original documents and testimony to federal investigators."
Margaret stepped away from the podium.
Ethan grabbed her arm.
Then fire alarms began screaming.
Exactly as Samantha predicted.
Smoke appeared near the private executive corridor leading toward the Blue Room server controls.
Security officers moved.
But they were not Prescott security.
Federal agents had quietly replaced several positions under warrant authority.
Ethan ran.
Agent Brooks appeared near the corridor.
"Mr. Prescott."
He stopped.
"Do not move."
Margaret did not run toward the exits.
She ran toward the service elevators.
That told investigators everything.
She cared more about destroying evidence than escaping a possible fire.
Agents followed.
The alarm turned out to be deliberate.
A small electrical fire had been started near a utility panel.
The suppression system activated before it spread.
Downstairs, Margaret reached the Blue Room.
She entered a destruction code.
Nothing happened.
The servers had already been disconnected under warrant.
Agent Brooks stepped through the doorway.
Margaret stared at her.
"You have no idea who you're fighting."
Brooks answered.
"This isn't a fight."
"It's an arrest."
Margaret laughed.
"You think you can arrest me?"
Brooks produced the warrant.
"Margaret Prescott, you are under arrest on federal charges including obstruction, witness tampering, conspiracy, and bribery-related offenses."
Margaret's face finally broke.
"No."
Agents moved forward.
Then Ethan appeared behind them.
He was holding a phone.
He smiled at his mother.
"Don't worry."
"I sent Crown."
Agent Brooks turned.
"Sent it where?"
May you like
Ethan pressed the screen.
"Everywhere."
