Chapter 6
Chapter 6: The Fragile Line
Inside the sterile, white recovery room, Clara looked unrecognizable. The left side of her beautiful face was heavily bandaged, her eye swollen shut and surrounded by deep, ugly bruising. The rhythmic beep-beep of the heart monitor was the only sound breaking the silence.
When the door clicked open, she flinched, her hand instinctively gripping the bedsheets. But when she saw her father, her eyes welled with tears.
"Dad," she croaked, her voice raspy from the intubation tube.
Thomas Montgomery rushed to his daughter's side, carefully taking her uninjured hand. "Oh, my sweet girl. I'm here. Daddy's here. I've already got the police chief outside. We are drawing up the arrest warrant for Victoria Vanguard tonight."
"No," Clara whispered, her grip tightening on his hand with surprising strength. "No warrants. Not yet."
The Mayor frowned. "Clara, she threw you down a marble staircase. She tried to kill you. I can have SWAT at their estate within the hour."
"If you arrest her now, Dad, her army of high-priced lawyers will find a loophole. They’ll claim it was an accident. They’ll buy the judges," Clara said, a dangerous, cold light flickering in her hazel eyes. The sweet, innocent girl from the small town died on those marble stairs. In her place stood a woman forged in betrayal. "Victoria loves two things: her social status and the Vanguard empire. Sending her to jail is too easy. I want to take away everything she holds dear. I want her to watch her legacy turn to ash before she ever steps inside a courtroom."
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Thomas looked at his daughter, seeing his own political ruthlessness reflecting back at him for the very first time. "And what about Ethan?"
Clara’s heart ached at the mention of his name, but she hardened her expression. "Ethan didn't push me. But he is a Vanguard. He chose to keep me in that house despite knowing what his mother was. He needs to learn that silence is just as guilty as the crime. Tell him I don't want to see him. Let him suffer in the dark."
