Chapter 4 - The Legal Storm and Arrest
When Officer Dawson walked back into the living room holding the leather ledger and the pawn receipts, Carmen’s face drained of every ounce of color. She looked like a ghost trapped inside a bright red dress.
“Carmen Ferris,” Officer Dawson announced, unclipping his handcuffs from his utility belt with a sharp metallic clink. “Turn around and put your hands behind your back.”
“What?! On what grounds?!” Carmen shrieked, backing away toward the dining table, knocking over a tray of silver cutlery that clattered violently across the floor. “I haven't done anything wrong! That notebook is my personal diary! You can't use my private thoughts against me! Zayden! Tell them to stop! I am your mother!”
“You are not my mother,” Zayden said, his voice echoing off the high ceilings like a death sentence. He stood beside the paramedics, who were preparing to transport Jessica and Olivia to the Phoenix Children's Hospital burn unit. “A mother protects her family. A mother doesn't starve a five-year-old child or burn her hands with hot water. You are a predator.”
“I gave birth to you!” Carmen screamed as Officer Dawson grabbed her wrists and snapped the steel cuffs around her wrists. “I raised you alone in Baltimore! You owe me your life! You think this little weak girl is going to make you happy? She’s a parasite! She took you away from me!”
“Ma'am, you have the right to remain silent,” Officer Dawson recited coldly, forcing her hands behind her back. “Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney...”
“Get your hands off me!” Carmen thritted violently, struggling against the officer as she was escorted out the front door. The neighbors from the 4th floor had gathered in the hallway, watching in utter shock as the proud, elegant woman who always bragged about her son’s wealth was marched out in handcuffs, screaming curses that echoed down the elevator shaft.
Zayden didn't watch her leave. He turned back to the kitchen, knelt down beside the gurney where Olivia was sitting, her hands wrapped in thick white sterile bandages, and took Jessica’s trembling, blistered hand into his own.
“I’m so sorry, Jess,” Zayden wept, tears finally breaking through his hard exterior. He fell to his knees beside his wife’s chair. “I was so blind. I was so focused on work... on project deadlines... on believing everything was fine because it was easier than facing the truth. Please forgive me.”
Jessica looked at him, her dark brown eyes wet with tears, but for the first time in a year, the suffocating shadow of fear had vanished from her gaze. She squeezed his fingers gently with her uninjured hand.
“You came home, Zayden,” she whispered, leaning down to press her forehead against his. “You came home right when we needed you.”
At the hospital, the medical team confirmed that Olivia had suffered deep first-degree and superficial second-degree burns across her palms and fingers. Jessica had second-degree burns on her wrist and severe emotional trauma. The hospital social worker and an investigator from Child Protective Services immediately initiated an inquiry, but after reading the police report and inspecting the seized ledger, they confirmed that Zayden was cleared of all negligence—he was the protector who had put an immediate end to the torture.
Late that night, as Olivia finally fell asleep in a private hospital bed, her tiny bandaged hands resting on a plush teddy bear, Detective Miller from the Phoenix Police Department Special Victims Unit walked into the waiting room.
“Mr. Ferris?” Detective Miller called.
May you like
Zayden stood up immediately. “How is the case looking?”
Detective Miller pulled a thick case file from under his arm. “It’s bigger than we thought. When we booked your mother at the county jail, we ran her fingerprints through the national database. Carmen Ferris isn't just facing child endangerment and felony abuse charges in Arizona. She’s been running financial scams across state lines for six years.”
