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Chapter 865:
A knee pressed into the center of her spine, pinning her flat. Her arms were wrenched behind her back. The handcuffs clicked shut with a sharp, final sound.
The lead detective from the Violent Crimes Task Force walked in holding a document stamped with the red seal of a federal judge. He stood over her and looked down without expression.
“Alycia Beasley. You are under arrest for first-degree attempted murder, interstate murder-for-hire, and extortion. You have the right to remain silent p>
The words cut through her panic. She began thrashing against the floor.
“I didn’t do it!” she screamed, her voice cracking into a hysterical pitch. “It was Cole Compton — he framed me! I want my lawyer! I demand to see my lawyer p>
The detective let out a short, humorless scoff. “Your accounts are frozen. You couldn’t afford a public defender’s parking ticket right now.” He nodded at the officers. “Get her out of here p>
They hauled her to her feet. She was wearing a stained t-shirt and sweatpants, her hair a matted, bloody tangle. They dragged her out onto the exterior walkway into the sharp winter air.
A crowd had gathered behind the police tape below — motel guests, pedestrians, phones raised and recording. Alycia looked down at the sea of lenses. She had spent her entire life constructing the image of an untouchable Upper East Side socialite. Now she was being paraded like something feral. The humiliation crushed what remained of her pride. She dropped her chin to her chest and hid her face behind her hair.
𝗦a𝘃е у𝘰𝘶r 𝘧𝖺𝘷𝗼𝗋𝗂𝗍𝖾 ո𝘰𝗏е𝘭ѕ on
Her knees buckled on the concrete stairs. She fell, her shins catching the sharp edge of a step. The officers didn’t pause — they pulled her back up by the armpits and dragged her across the parking lot.
At the back of the armored transport van, they shoved her inside. She hit the cold ribbed metal floor hard. The heavy doors slammed shut with a final, booming thud.
Alycia pulled herself upright and pressed her bleeding head against the steel mesh of the window, gasping. Her tears mixed with the blood on her face.
Through the small square of glass, she looked across the street.
A black armored SUV sat in the shadow of an abandoned diner. As she watched, the tinted rear window rolled down halfway.
Cole’s face appeared in the gap. His eyes were flat, empty voids. But his lips were curved into a slow, cold smile — the smile of a man watching something he had planned for a very long time finally reach its conclusion.
The sight of it detonated something behind Alycia’s eyes.
She lunged at the mesh, wrapping her cuffed fingers around the wire. “I curse you!” she shrieked, her voice shredding itself raw. “I will drag her to hell with me! Do you hear me, Cole?! June is going to die p>
Cole didn’t blink. He pressed a button. The window rolled up smoothly, cutting off her face and her screaming. The SUV pulled from the curb and disappeared into traffic.