Chapter 11
"This is a complete misunderstanding!" Evelyn shrieked, her voice echoing off the concrete pillars as the two state troopers moved in to flank her. "We are restructuring municipal grants to maximize efficiency! You have no right—"
Agent Thomas didn't blink. He pulled a thick sheaf of folded documents from his briefcase and held them up. "We have the manifests, Mrs. Hayes. We have the bank transfers routed through your shell companies in the Cayman Islands. And, most importantly, we have the signed inventory logs proving you attempted to reassign custom-fitted pediatric equipment intended for disabled minors to private out-of-state brokers."
Brenda Vance shrank back against the reception desk, her clipboard slipping from her fingers and clattering loudly against the terrazzo floor. "I was just following directives," she stammered, looking frantically around the lobby for an ally. "Evelyn said the board authorized it."
Officer Miller stepped forward, his expression hard as stone. He looked down at Brenda with profound disappointment. "Authorized by who, Brenda? I never saw a single piece of paperwork for those reallocations."
Evelyn’s composure finally shattered completely. The polished, untouchable persona she had maintained crumbled into a desperate, feral rage. She lunged forward, not toward the agents, but directly toward Clara, her fingernails clawing at the air. "It's all your fault!" she screamed, her voice cracking with hysteria. "If you had just given up the damn chair, none of this would have happened! You ruined everything!"
Mark didn't hesitate. He stepped squarely into her path, his broad shoulder absorbing Evelyn’s frantic lunge and sending her stumbling backward into the arms of the state troopers.
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"Get your hands off her," Mark growled, his voice vibrating with suppressed fury.
The troopers pinned Evelyn's arms behind her back, snapping the cold steel cuffs around her wrists with a sharp click. As they dragged her toward the exit, her muffled screams and frantic denials bounced off the glass walls until the heavy doors swung shut behind them.
