The hotel security guards immediately surrounded Evelyn, preventing her from scrambling to her feet or attempting to flee the premises. Two uniformed officers who had been stationed outside for the public event walked into the sunlit room, their hand cuffs clicking loudly as they approached the fallen stepmother. Evelyn wept openly, trying to cover her bruised face with her trembling hands while pearls continued to roll past her knees.
Evelyn: Officers, arrest him! He just assaulted me in front of everyone!
Officer: Quiet down, ma'am. We have multiple witnesses stating you just endangered an infant's life.
David: Check the videographer's monitor right over there. It captured every single second on broadcast quality video.
The lead police officer walked over to the camera crew, who immediately played back the footage on the crystal-clear monitor screen. The video showed Evelyn's sinister smile, her deliberate upward throw, and the baby soaring through the air before David's heroic dive. The evidence was absolute and undeniable. The officer turned back to Evelyn with a stern, disgust-filled expression, pulling her hands behind her back to snap the metal cuffs tightly onto her wrists.
The surrounding crowd erupted into loud applause and angry murmurs directed at the arrested woman. City officials and prominent business executives who had once treated Evelyn with deep respect now turned their backs on her in disgust. Her standing in high society was completely destroyed in less than ten minutes. As the officers hauled her up from the floor, she begged David for mercy, her voice shaking with desperate sobs.
Evelyn: David, think of your father's memory! Don't press legal charges against me!
David: My father would be disgusted by what you just did to his granddaughter. You are dead to this family.
Evelyn: I will give up all claims to the estate! Just let me go!
David: The law will handle you now, Evelyn. You will never set foot near my daughter again.
The police led the sobbing woman away through the grand entrance of the ballroom, past dozens of flashing camera phones and shocked onlookers. The heavy glass doors shut behind her, finally removing her toxic presence from the building forever. David took a deep breath, feeling the heavy burden of fear lift from his shoulders as he adjusted the white blanket around his sleeping daughter.