CHAPTER 1
1179 Words
Clara stood in the middle of their once-sparkling marble living room, now shadowed with silence and shame.
Reporters buzzed outside the mansion gates like flies over a corpse, waiting for a glimpse of the fall of Blueburge’s golden family.
“Open up! Mr. Clifford, we know you're in there.”
The pounding on the door jolted Clara from her daze.
Her father didn’t wait for the guards. He opened the door himself, head held high. But the look in his eyes wasn’t pride. It was dreadful.
The agents didn’t spare a moment. “Mr. Clifford, you're being charged with embezzlement and fraud against Blueburge Financial Authority.
“We have come to take you in for questioning. You have the right to remain silent—”
“Fraud?” he cut in, voice sharp with disbelief. “You're making a mistake, gentlemen! I have never been involved in anything of such, and I would never be. Check your files properly, my friends. You might have mistaken me for another Clifford!”
He said it with confidence and returned to his sitting position.
“Sir, words won't mean much with the evidence we've gathered,”
said one of the officers as he held up a folder thick with documents.
“We’ve got bank statements, foreign transactions, and dummy companies. You’ve been moving millions, sir.”
Clara felt her knees weaken.
These men weren’t amateurs — they looked sharp, trained, and dangerous.
The moment she realized they’d come from the State Security Headquarters, panic curled in her chest like smoke.
“That’s impossible,” Mr. Clifford snapped. “I don’t even have access to those accounts! Who—who signed off on this?”
“Mr. Clifford, you'll only be allowed to ask questions at the office. For now, you're under arrest.”
“No,” he said, quieter this time. “No, this is wrong.”
Another agent stepped forward with a search warrant. “We'll need to seize all relevant documents and freeze the family’s accounts, as we have been instructed. Please step aside and let me do my job.”
“Don’t touch my family,” Mr. Clifford barked. “I won't let you harm my whole family for a crime we know nothing about.”
Clara clutched her father’s sleeve. She noticed he was about to move with the officers.
“Dad... what’s happening?”
He turned to her, “Someone did this—someone powerful. But listen, no matter what happens, I need you to stay strong. For your mother. For Daniel.”
“How is that even possible, Dad?”
Clara’s voice trembled, barely holding back the storm building in her chest.
“Sooner than we think, they might show up and throw us out — they already have the documents for everything.”
She paced the floor, her arms wrapped tightly around herself like a fragile shield.
“How are we supposed to pay for Mum’s treatments? How the hell are we even going to find a roof over our heads?”
She turned to him, eyes brimming. “I’m trying, but I don’t know how to be strong anymore.”
“Listen sweetheart— I am only going for questioning and I will return. Hasten up and inform Mr. Richard Kane to get us off this mess. He's the only one I have now to trust.”
Clara lowered her head, voice breaking. But when she finally looked up, her heart dropped — her father was already being led away by the officers.
Clara didn’t even get to say goodbye properly. The handcuffs clinked against her father’s wrists, and just like that, the man who had been her rock was taken away like a criminal.
Clara, standing on one spot brooding, not very sure what to do next or where to go next.
Her phone rang... she ignored it but picked up when she realized who it was.
Tessa.
Her best friend.
Clara tried to respond, but only a choked breath escaped.
“Where are you? I’m coming to you,” Tessa insisted.
Minutes later, they sat in Tessa’s tiny Corolla, parked on a quiet street, miles away from the blaring horns and media vultures circling the Clifford mansion.
“They took him. The agents… they just showed up like a movie raid. Charges for fraud and embezzlement, Tess. Dad didn’t even get to explain. They had folders, warrants, everything—I just want to wake up from this dream.”
Tessa’s eyes widened. “But he’s innocent, right?”
Clara nodded, eyes blank. “He has to be. He just… he has to.”
She swallowed hard, her voice barely holding.
“But the way things looked in there, Tess... it’s bad. I’m trying to stay hopeful, but I don’t know how much I’ve got left.”
Her breath hitched.
“They’re freezing our accounts. Mum still needs treatment. Tess, I swear — I don’t know how we’re going to survive this.”
“So what now?” Tessa asked, her voice low but urgent. “What do you plan to do next after here?”
“I have to go see my mum at the hospital first,” Clara said quietly, brushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “After that, I’ll reach out to my dad’s friend — the one he told me about earlier.”
“No, dear…” Tessa reached out and touched her arm gently. “I don’t think that’s wise. Your mum’s already battling with her health, telling her all this now—” she shook her head, her tone turning serious, “that could break her completely.”
She gave Clara’s hand a soft squeeze. “Maybe we should figure out a way forward first. But for now, please… just keep all this away from her.”
“I should go now,” Clara said, gripping the door handle. “It’s still a good time to meet someone of that class at home.”
Tessa watched her closely. “Clara…” she said, her voice softening. “And one more thing.”
“You don’t walk in there as a helpless girl,” she added firmly. “They may have put handcuffs on your father, but no one can shut your voice. So use it.”
Clara looked at her best friend and smiled. “Thank you, Tess,” she murmured.
Then she turned and walked out — heading for Mr. Richard Kane’s.
She took her mother’s car, a red Corolla that suited her dress. Like nothing had happened, Clara drove off.
Not far from the Kane estate, Clara began to think.
“Dad said he’s an old friend,” she muttered. “But I don’t know my father with friends.”
Closer to the estate, her phone rang.
“Hello?” she said.
“Clara, you need to come to the hospital right now,” Daniel said on the other end.
“What is it, Daniel?” she asked.
“Maybe you should leave the questions and start coming already,” he snapped.
- Writer
