Chapter 56 - The Cuffs Click Shut
Sheriff Vance didn't even look at Tyler. He signaled his deputies with a sharp flick of his wrist. Two large officers moved in, seizing Tyler by his arms and yanking him roughly to his feet.
"Tyler Mercer," Vance said coldly, his voice laced with the disgust of a man who had known this family for thirty years, "you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law."
"Get off me!" Tyler screamed, thrashing against their grip, but the deputies were immovable. The cold steel of the handcuffs clicked around his wrists with a finality that seemed to echo across the entire valley. "Call my father! Call Richard! You can't do this to me! I own this land! The inheritance was promised to me!"
"Your father is currently sitting in a holding cell in the county seat, Tyler," Vance replied flatly, watching as the deputies pushed the struggling young man toward the rear of a cruiser. "The state attorney general issued the warrant two hours ago. Wire fraud, forgery, and embezzlement from the family trust. You're both going to the same facility."
Tyler froze. The frantic thrashing ceased instantly, replaced by a paralyzing, incomprehensible shock. "Dad... was arrested?"
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"Your father sold you out the minute the forensic accountants knocked on his office door," Julian said, stepping forward, his voice steady and ruthless. "He handed over every email, every forged deed, and every text message you sent him planning this excavation. He traded your freedom to shave five years off his own sentence."
Tyler's face turned completely white beneath the layers of ash. The brutal reality of the Mercer family dynamic—a family built on ruthlessness, where loyalty was merely an illusion—finally crashed down upon him. He was shoved into the back of the cruiser, his forehead hitting the Plexiglas divider as the door slammed shut with a sickening thud.
