Chapter 4: The Honeymoon Suite
Chapter 4: The Honeymoon Suite
I wasn't there to see it, but Detective Miller kindly provided me with the body-cam footage later. It was a masterpiece of poetic justice.
At 4:15 AM, Preston and Madison were sitting in the VIP lounge of the O'Hare Hilton, drinking mimosas, completely oblivious to the tidal wave rushing toward them. Preston was on the phone, laughing, likely reassured by our father that the "situation" had been handled with a checkbook.
Six uniformed Chicago police officers and Detective Miller walked into the lounge.
"Preston Bennett?" Miller called out.
Preston lowered his phone, his smug smile faltering. "Yes? Look, my father is Richard Bennett. He already spoke to your precinct captain—"
"Stand up and place your hands behind your back," Miller ordered, her voice slicing through the quiet luxury of the lounge. "You are under arrest for the aggravated assault of a minor."
Madison shrieked, dropping her crystal champagne flute. It shattered on the carpet. "Preston! What is going on? We have a flight!"
"Call my dad!" Preston screamed, his voice pitching high with panic as two officers grabbed his arms, spun him around, and forcefully clicked the heavy steel handcuffs around his wrists. "You can't do this! I'm leaving for my honeymoon! I'm a Bennett!"
"You're a felon," Miller corrected him, patting him down.
Cell phone cameras from other early-morning travelers began to flash. People in the lounge were standing up, recording the groom in his wrinkled tuxedo being perp-walked out of the VIP area.
"Madison, call my dad!" Preston sobbed. Actually sobbed. The golden boy, the untouchable prince of the Bennett family, was crying like a toddler as he was marched through the airport lobby in handcuffs.
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By the time the sun rose over Chicago, Preston was sitting in a concrete holding cell in central booking, stripped of his tuxedo and dressed in a neon orange jumpsuit. And because the charge involved the violent assault of a child, the judge at his morning arraignment denied bail.
The Maldives were replaced by the Cook County Jail.
