Sandra stood entirely frozen in the middle of the terminal, her mind spinning as she looked between the two arrested passengers. “I don’t understand,” she whispered to the lead uniformed officer. “What is happening here? She gave me the distress signal!” The lead officer shook his head with a hollow, tired expression, pulling up a digital file on his tactical tablet. “She weaponized your empathy, ma’am. This woman isn’t a victim. She’s a thief.”
“She was working as a live-in nanny for a family in London,” the officer explained to a completely stunned Sandra. “Last night, while the parents were away, she cleaned out their home safes, stole over two hundred thousand dollars in cash and irreplaceable family heirlooms, and bolted. The family filed an international felony warrant six hours ago while you were mid-air over the Atlantic.” The officer then turned toward the plainclothes team holding Daniel. “Let him up. His identity is officially cleared. He’s the victim here.”