Richard: GET AWAY FROM MY SON!
Strong hands grabbed Clara violently by the shoulder and ripped her off the boy. She skidded back into the sharp glass, cutting her knees and palms against the broken crystal shards on the floor.
Clara: Sir, please! I was just trying to protect him!
Richard: You clumsy idiot! You almost killed him with your utter carelessness!
Richard gathered his small son into his arms, inspecting the boy from head to toe. The guests murmured loudly, whispering insult after insult about the incompetent waitstaff hired for the charity gala.
Guest A: These catering companies hire anyone off the street these days.
Guest B: She probably tripped over her own feet! Look at the disaster she created.
Richard: Do you have any idea who I am? I am Richard Vance! My family owns this estate, and my legal team will destroy your entire life for this!
Clara: Sir, I swear on my life, I didn't knock it over! I saw it falling and jumped to cover him!
Richard: Shut your mouth! Look at this mess! You endangered the heir to a multibillion-dollar real estate company!
Noah: DAD, SHE SAVED ME! THAT MAN PUSHED IT!
Richard froze, looking down at his son in utter confusion. The boy pointed an earnest, trembling finger toward the dark side hallway near the grand entrance.
Richard: What did you say, Noah?
Noah: She didn't trip, Dad! A scary man in a dark vest bumped into the table hard and shoved the glass! Then she jumped over me so I wouldn't get hurt!
Richard slowly looked up from his son to Clara, whose hands were bleeding profusely into her black uniform. Her body was shaking from shock, but her eyes held absolute truth.
Richard: You... you jumped on top of him?
Clara: I couldn't let him get cut by the glass, sir. Any human being would have done the same thing.
Richard stared at her in silence. The heavy anger in his voice suddenly vanished, replaced by a deep sense of uncomfortable guilt. He looked down at the pile of broken crystal surrounding them, noticing something shiny lying right near Clara's knee.
Richard: What is that on the floor next to you?
Clara: I... I don't know. It was hidden right beneath the glass shards.
Clara reached out her trembling, bleeding hand and picked up a heavy object from the sharp pile. It was a custom gold button, polished to a mirror shine, with a detailed crest engraved on the front.
Clara: It looks like a button from a designer jacket... or a security uniform.
Richard: Let me see that right now.
Clara handed the gold button to Richard. The moment his eyes locked onto the small metal piece, all the color drained instantly from his face. His knuckles turned white as he gripped the button tightly in his hand.
Richard: This can't be real...
Clara: Sir? Do you know who this belongs to?
Richard: HE WASN'T AFTER NOAH...
Clara: What do you mean?
Before Richard could answer, the massive oak entrance doors of the mansion swung open with a deafening thud that echoed across the grand foyer. Everyone turned toward the door in utter shock as a tall man stepped into the room, flanked by two large bodyguards.
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