Chapter 4: The Flashing Lights
Outside the resort’s marble portico, the world was waiting.
Two Laguna Beach police cruisers pulled up with sirens wailing, having been dispatched automatically when Clara filed the emergency report via the department’s online portal ten minutes earlier.
As Victoria and Marcus rushed through the front lobby to stop Clara from leaving, two uniformed officers intercepted them on the steps.
""Victoria Sterling?"" the lead officer, Officer Henderson, asked, consulting a digital tablet.
""Do you know who my family is?"" Victoria snapped, her voice trembling with indignation. ""My husband sits on the judicial appointment committee! Get your hands off my terrace!""
""Ma'am, you are being served with a temporary restraining order and a summons for felony criminal mischief exceeding twenty-five thousand dollars in appraised value,"" Officer Henderson said calmly, handing her a thick packet of legal documents. ""Furthermore, the District Attorney's office has placed a freeze on the suite for evidence collection.""
Reporters from the local news affiliates, already present to cover the high-profile wedding, swarmed the steps with blinding flashes.
Marcus stood frozen on the marble threshold, watching as his mother was handed the legal notice, while his bride stepped into a modest yellow cab, holding a bundle of white rags in her lap.
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The yellow cab pulled away into the afternoon traffic, leaving the Sterling dynasty standing in the wreckage of their own manufactured perfection.
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