Chapter 5 - THE CONFRONTATION IN LOCKUP
The interrogation room at the federal detention center was cold, stark, and smelled of industrial floor cleaner.
Daniel sat at the metal table, wearing an orange jumpsuit. His hands were cuffed to a ring bolted to the center of the table. He looked twenty years older than he had twenty-four hours ago. Dark circles bruised the skin under his eyes, and his hair was matte and messy.
When Agent Miller and I walked into the room, he looked up, his eyes instantly locking onto mine.
"Sophia," he gasped, leaning forward as far as his chains would allow. "Thank God. Did you bring Ethan? Is he okay? Please tell me he's okay."
"Ethan is safe," I said, sitting down in the chair across from him, refusing to show a shred of warmth. "No thanks to you or your mother."
"Sophia, you have to talk to the prosecutor," Daniel pleaded, tears welling in his eyes. "They're trying to charge me with federal drug trafficking! They're talking about fifteen years in a maximum-security facility! I didn't know what was in those boxes! I swear on my life!"
"You didn't know?" I replied, pulling out the printed wire transfer receipt and slapping it onto the table in front of him. "Then explain why you personally authorized a two-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar payment to a package printing shop in Vancouver six months ago."
Daniel looked at the paper, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. "I... that was for marketing! Margaret asked me to wire that money for her new luxury brand launch!"
"Stop lying, Daniel!" I slammed my hand onto the metal table. The sharp bang echoed off the concrete walls. "Your mother imported horse tranquilizers through your maritime docks! She used your private import codes! She had fake labels printed to make industrial sedatives look like European baby formula! And then she brought those tins into our home to feed to our infant son!"
"She told me it was a supplement!" Daniel screamed back, breaking down into full-blown sobbing. "She told me it was a special calming powder that high-society families in Europe use! She said Ethan was too loud, that his crying was giving her migraines, that you were refusing to train him properly! She said it was just a mild sleep aid!"
Agent Miller leaned over the table, her tone lethal. "Mr. Collins, are you telling us under oath that your mother intentionally instructed you to give an unregulated substance to your six-month-old child to alter his behavior?"
Daniel buried his face in his cuffed hands, his body shaking violently. "She said... she said if we gave him a little bit every night, he would sleep ten hours straight. She said it would make Sophia's life easier so we could start attending board dinners again... She told me she used the same powder on me when I was a baby!"
A horrific chill ran down my spine.
I looked at the man I had lived with for seven years. The man I had loved.
He was not just a victim of a domineering mother. He was a product of her madnessâconditioned from childhood to accept her toxic control as normal, so brainwashed that he was willing to pass that abuse down to his own son just to keep his mother pleased.
"She poisoned you when you were a baby," I whispered, horror choking my throat. "And you were going to let her do it to Ethan."
"It didn't hurt me!" Daniel cried out defensively, looking up with bloodshot eyes. "Look at me! I built a company! I'm successful!"
"You're in handcuffs in a federal detention center, Daniel," I said, my voice dropping to a icy whisper. "You're broken. And you almost let her destroy our child."
Agent Miller tapped her tablet. "Mr. Collins, where is Margaret right now?"
Daniel shook his head frantically. "I don't know! I swear I don't know!"
"We tracked her private phone to a cell tower near the San Juan Islands charter terminal two hours ago," Miller said. "She has a private yacht registered under Aegis Pacific, doesn't she?"
Daniel went silent, his eyes darting to the corner of the room.
"Daniel," I said, leaning in close so he had no choice but to look at me. "If you don't tell Agent Miller where that boat is headed right now, I will personally ensure that the family court judge revokes your parental rights permanently. You will never see Ethan again. Not when he turns one, not when he starts school, not ever."
Daniel looked at me, realizing for the first time that the quiet, supportive wife he had taken for granted was completely gone. In her place stood a mother who would burn his entire world to the ground to protect her child.
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"She... she has a private dock in Friday Harbor," Daniel whispered, defeated. "The vessel is named The Royal Sovereign. She has two million dollars in gold bearer bonds hidden in the master stateroom safe. She was planning to head into international waters toward Vancouver Island if anything ever went wrong with the customs inspections."
Agent Miller immediately tapped her earpiece. "Command, this is Miller. Target is aboard The Royal Sovereign at Friday Harbor marina. Scramble Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound and request local tactical entry units immediately."
