Chapter 4 - The Smear Campaign
The Sterling PR machine was ruthless, even from behind bars.
By Tuesday, my father had posted a three-million-dollar bail. Instantly, the tabloids were flooded with "anonymous leaks" about my character. They published out-of-context medical records from when I was seventeen—the therapy sessions my mother forced me into to cover up her abuse.
HEADLINE: WHISTLEBLOWER OR DELUSIONAL DAUGHTER? CLARA STERLING'S HISTORY OF MENTAL INSTABILITY.
I sat in my tiny, cramped apartment, watching the news cycle tear me apart. My phone buzzed incessantly with death threats from my father's corporate loyalists.
Then, there was a knock at my door.
I checked the peephole. It was Julian. He looked disheveled, his usual arrogant smirk replaced by dark circles and panic. I left the chain on but opened the door a crack.
"Clara, please," he begged, his voice trembling. "They expelled me. The university revoked my degree. I have nothing. Dad's freezing my trust fund to pay for his defense."
"Sounds like a personal problem, Julian," I said coldly.
"I'll testify for you," he whispered, glancing nervously down the hallway. "I know where Mom hid the physical ledger. The one with the blackmail material on the board members. But you have to tell the feds to grant me immunity."
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I looked at the brother who had mocked me my entire life. He was a coward, ready to sell out his own parents to save his skin.
"Bring me the ledger first," I said. "Then we'll talk." I slammed the door in his face.
