Chapter 6 - Bloodlines and Subpoenas
The following morning, my phone erupted into a digital war zone.
Brandon, lacking the intellectual capacity to mount an actual legal defense, had decided to weaponize the court of public opinion. At 2:00 AM, he had posted a heavily edited five-minute video on TikTok and Facebook, crying into the camera from the living room of our parents’ colonial house.
*“My sister just destroyed my life,”* the caption read.
In the video, he held up a fake engagement ring box, sobbing that his "jealous, career-obsessed older sister" had repossessed his car out of sheer spite because she couldn't stand seeing him settle down before her. He claimed he had paid for the down payment with his own hard-earned savings and that I had maliciously hacked the dealership's financial portal to sabotage his wedding.
Within eight hours, the post had garnered over two hundred thousand views. Distant cousins, high school acquaintances, and toxic family friends had flooded my private social accounts with death threats, vitriol, and accusations of being an unnatural monster.
My father, Richard Henderson, sent an email directly to my corporate address at 9:15 AM:
*Claire,*
*Look at what you’ve done to this family. Brandon’s fiancée Chloe is threatening to leave him. Our friends at the club are whispering behind our backs. The dealership is demanding fifteen thousand dollars in breach-of-contract recovery fees and restocking penalties. You will wire thirty thousand dollars to Brandon’s checking account by noon today to settle this quietly. If you do not, I will personally file an elder abuse and financial misconduct complaint with your professional licensing board.*
*Richard.*
I sat in my corner office at Kensington Capital, sipping hot black coffee. A rookie might have panicked. A weak person would have broken down and sent the money just to make the harassment stop.
Instead, I picked up the landline and dialed Marcus Vance at the bank, then patched in Arthur Kensington’s chief litigation counsel, Sarah Lin.
"Sarah," I said calmly. "It’s Claire. I have targeted public defamation, attempted extortion, and an ongoing coordinated campaign to destroy my professional standing, backed by written documentary evidence from Richard and Brandon Henderson. Let’s draft the subpoenas."
Sarah’s laugh was cold and razor-sharp over the speakerphone. "Oh, Claire. They really don't understand how discovery works, do they?"
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"Not yet," I replied, opening my forensic dossier. "Let's teach them."
***