Chapter 8 - The Motel Confrontation
Two days later.
At a rundown, forty-dollar-a-night motel on the outskirts of Nashville.
Diane and Caroline sat on the stained mattress of a small room, surrounding by two cardboard boxes containing their clothes.
Caroline was staring blankly at her phone, watching viral news clips of Julian’s family issuing a public statement canceling their wedding and cutting all ties with the Caldwell name.
"It's over, Mom," Caroline wept, tossing her phone onto the bed. "We have nothing. No money, no mansion, no social standing. Everyone in Nashville is laughing at us!"
"Shut up!" Diane snapped, pacing back and forth across the carpet. "Arthur Sterling will fix this! He's a powerful man in Washington! He'll get us our share of the trust!"
Suddenly, the motel room door opened.
I stepped through the doorway, flanked by two uniformed estate guards.
Diane spun around, her eyes flaring with desperate hope. "Harper! You came! You realized you can't survive without your mother, didn't you?!"
"Arthur Sterling was arrested by federal marshals forty-eight hours ago, Diane," I said plainly. "He's facing life in federal prison for espionage."
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Diane’s knees gave out. She collapsed onto the edge of the bed, clutching her chest. "N-No... that's impossible..."
"All of his assets have been seized," I continued. "Including the money he promised you."
