Three days after the charity gala, Clara sat in the sunlit library of the Sterling mansion overlooking the manicured gardens. A hot cup of tea sat untouched on the mahogany desk beside a thick brown folder tied with black string.
Arthur: Miss Clara, the estate lawyer finished reviewing the corporate documents you brought us yesterday.
Clara: Did he find out why my father's firm suddenly went under last month?
Arthur: It was not an accident or poor management on your father's part at all.
Clara pulled her gaze away from the garden view and looked directly at the gray-haired family attorney standing before her.
Clara: What do you mean by that, Mr. Arthur?
Arthur: Someone deliberately froze your father's supply lines by buying up his primary lender's debt overnight.
Clara: Who had enough money and malice to do something like that to him?
Arthur placed his hands flat on the wooden desk and opened the brown paper folder with careful precision.
Arthur: Vance Real Estate Holding Corporation signed the acquisition papers three weeks ago.
Clara felt a cold rush of anger course through her veins as she stared at Victoria's father's signature on the legal document. The exact family that mocked her poverty at the gala was the very reason her father lost his life work.
Clara: They ruined my father's health just to buy his harbor property for pennies!
Julian: And they are going to pay back every single dollar with heavy interest.
Julian stepped through the library's double glass doors, holding a fresh set of legal briefs in his hand. He walked straight over to Clara, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder as he looked at the open file.
Julian: My legal team filed an emergency injunction against Vance Holding early this morning in federal court.
Clara: Can we actually stop them from taking the family warehouse in South Boston?
Julian: We are doing much more than stopping them, Clara, we are launching a full corporate audit into their finances.
Arthur: The predatory lending tactics they used against your father violate state banking laws completely.
Clara stood up from the leather chair, her hands clenched into firm fists at her sides as new hope filled her chest.
Clara: My father worked thirty hard years without breaking a single rule or stepping on anyone.
Julian: Which is exactly why justice is going to strike them hard before this week ends.
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