Chapter 9: The Lioness’s Strategy
Julian terminated the call before Clara could utter a word. The screen went black, leaving only Clara’s reflection staring back at her—eyes wide, hair soaked, but burning with an unyielding, primal resolve.
She had spent two years running, hiding in the shadows of poverty, believing that staying quiet would keep Lily safe. But she realized now that monsters like Julian did not stop when you fled; they only grew bolder in the vacuum left by the fearful.
Clara pulled out a burner phone Marcus had slipped into the laptop bag. She dialed a number she had memorized years ago—Detective Sarah Ramos, her father’s former partner at the municipal investigation bureau who had been forced out of the department following the Harborview scandal.
“Sarah,” Clara said as soon as the line connected. “It’s Clara Vance.”
A long pause stretched across the line. “Clara? Where have you been? Rumors are flying all over the precinct that you stole a half-million-dollar watch from the Sterling family tonight.”
“It’s a frame job, Sarah. I have the original Harborview files. All of them. And proof that Julian is about to repeat it at the new Metro Hospital site in two hours.”
Sarah’s voice instantly shifted from tired skepticism to sharp, professional focus. “Send me the hash keys to verify the data. If this is real, Clara, I can bypass the local precinct and bring in the Federal Bureau of Investigation. But I need hard proof before the feds will mobilize against a billionaire.”
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“I’m uploading the files to a secure cloud server now,” Clara said, watching the progress bar reach ninety percent. “But Julian has Marcus, and he wants an exchange at the construction site. I need you there before he silences us both.”
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