Chapter 3 - The Sabotage
Two days later, my mother called me three times during my lunch hour. When I finally picked up, her voice was trembling with restrained fury.
"Clara, what did you say to Grant?"
I paused, setting my pen down. "I haven't spoken to Grant since Saturday night, Mom."
"Don't play innocent with me," Diane hissed. "Vanessa is in tears. Grant called her this morning, completely shaken, asking why your office is making inquiries into his family's foundations. Vanessa says you’re doing this out of spite because you couldn't handle her having a grand party."
My hands turned cold. I hadn't filed an official subpoena yet—which meant Grant had internal informants or was monitoring state query logs through private security. He knew I was looking.
"Mom, listen to me," I said calmly, striving to keep my tone professional. "Grant’s business dealings are compromised. There are serious legal irregularities in his company's finances."
"Irregularities?" My mother let out a bitter, disbelieving laugh. "You’ve been jealous of Vanessa since you were seven years old! When she got the lead in the school play, you pretended to be sick so we'd stay home. Now that she’s marrying a wealthy, respectable man, you’re using your state job to launch a personal vendetta?"
"This isn't personal!"
"It is personal!" she snapped. "Your father and I are coming over to your apartment tonight. And you are going to call Vanessa and apologize before you ruin this family once and for all."
She hung up before I could reply.
That evening, when I arrived home, my apartment door was slightly unlocked. Panic spiked in my chest. I pushed the door open to find my father standing in my living room, flipping through a folder on my dining table—a folder containing printed tax returns and corporate flowcharts of Vance Healthcare.
"Dad?" I stood frozen in the doorway. "How did you get in here?"
"The super let me in when I told him it was an emergency," Richard said, his voice dropping into the deep tone he used when delivering family decrees. He tossed the folder back onto the table. "What is this, Clara? You’re keeping files on your sister’s fiancé?"
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"That is official state work material, Dad. You have no right—"
"You are going to drop this," he interrupted, walking toward me, his shadow stretching across the room. "Vanessa finally has everything she’s ever wanted. Grant’s family is giving us security, status... connections your meager government salary could never provide. If you push this nonsense, you will destroy her happiness. I won't allow it."
