The smug smile on Patricia’s face didn’t even flicker when I laid down my boundary. She took another slow sip of her coffee, her eyes gleaming with the misplaced arrogance of a woman who genuinely believed she held all the cards.

Caleb's brothers were furious at being kept in the dark about Patricia’s massive debts, especially when it was revealed Patricia had tried to take out secret loans in their names years prior. The Foster family front was completely fractured.

However, cornered animals are the most dangerous.

On Tuesday morning, I arrived at my engineering firm’s headquarters downtown. As I stepped into the glass-walled lobby, the receptionist gave me a nervous, uncomfortable look.

"Clara... Mr. Harrison wants to see you in the executive board room immediately," she whispered.

My heart sank slightly, but I kept my posture rigid. Mr. Harrison was the senior partner at my firm—a traditional, old-school executive who loathed personal drama spilling into the workplace.

I walked up to the 14th floor and opened the boardroom door.

Sitting at the large mahogany table was Mr. Harrison, the head of HR, and sitting across from them, looking pitiful and tearful, was Patricia Foster.

"Ah, Clara. Please sit down," Mr. Harrison said, his tone heavy with severe disappointment.

Patricia wiped a fake tear from her cheek. "I’m so sorry to embarrass her at work, Mr. Harrison, but as a family, we are desperately worried. Clara has been having a severe manic episode since the wedding. She kicked my son out into the street, locked him out of his own home, and yesterday she threatened to destroy our family business using her engineering security credentials."

She had gone for the jugular. She was trying to frame me as mentally unstable to get me fired, stripping away my income and my credibility in one swift blow.

"She has completely fabricated financial documents to slander us," Patricia continued sobbed. "We just want her to get help! She isn't fit to oversee structural safety audits for your high-rise projects in this state of mind!"

Mr. Harrison looked at me sternly. "Clara, these are very serious allegations. Mrs. Foster has submitted a formal letter requesting an administrative leave of absence for you."

I didn't panic. I didn't raise my voice. I took a deep breath, sat down calmly, and opened my laptop.

"Mr. Harrison," I began smoothly. "I appreciate your concern for the integrity of our firm. Which is precisely why I have brought the certified bank statements, the police report for criminal trespassing filed against Mrs. Foster, and the active forensic audit report completed by Vance & Associates."

I tilted my screen toward Mr. Harrison and HR.

"Mrs. Foster is currently under investigation by the state attorney general's office for commercial loan fraud," I stated, watching Patricia's eyes widen in absolute horror. "She came to this office today in a desperate attempt to leverage my employer into forcing me to withdraw criminal charges."

"That's a lie! She's lying!" Patricia shrieked, dropping her tearful victim facade instantly.

"Furthermore," I added, hitting play on a video file. "This is high-definition video of Mrs. Foster invading my private residence at 6:45 AM, attempting to force me to transfer 40% of my corporate paycheck into an account she controls."

Mr. Harrison watched the video. His face turned from neutral to thunderous.

He stood up, turned to Patricia, and pointed toward the door.

"Mrs. Foster," Harrison said, his voice trembling with rage. "You have five seconds to leave this building before corporate security escorts you out in handcuffs for corporate harassment and slander. If you ever step foot on this property again, our legal team will sue you into absolute non-existence."

Patricia froze. The color drained completely from her face as two heavy-set security guards stepped into the boardroom.