(Ariana)
"Say it again."
My voice doesn't sound like mine. It is thin and cracked Like broken glass being swept up.
My father lifts his head to look at me, then looks away almost immediately. He has never avoided my eyes before. Not once in my entire life, until today.
"Ariana…." He tries to speak but I cut him off.
"No," I snap. "Say it again and slowly because what you just said doesn't make any sense,"
The office is too quiet now. There were no phones ringing, no assistants hovering around, no confidence in the air as we always joked that one day, our company would take over the corporate world. Something felt heavy...and wrong.
My dad exhaled, rubbing his fingers on his creased forehead. "The accounts have been frozen,"
I stare at him in shock and confusion. "Frozen? This is temporary right? Just a routine check like before. Right?," I asked, my last word a bit harsher than I wanted.
"Frozen as in seized," he replied with a tone I had never heard him use.
For a moment my breath seized but I still managed to ask. "By who?"
"The authorities."
I laugh. I actually laugh because this is absurd. "That's not funny Dad."
He doesn't smile.
The sound dies in my throat.
"What do you mean, seized?" I ask. "For what reason?"
He slides a folder across the desk. His hands are shaking. My father's hands do not shake. He is the paragon of confidence and for the first time in my life, I'm scared.
"Open it." He commanded but I don't want to. Every instinct in me screams not to touch it, like the folder is cursed. But I open it anyway as I needed to know what was going on.
My breath leaves me as I stare at the contents of the folder.
"This….." I say as I flip a page. "This isn't real."
"Ariana—"
"These signatures aren't yours." I continue, refusing to believe what my eyes were telling me.
"I know."
"These transactions….." I look up sharply. "We didn't authorize these."
"I know."
"So why are they saying you did?" My voice rises in anger. "Why are they saying we did?"
He swallows hard, his eyes finally meeting mine. "Because someone made it look airtight."
I stand up so fast the chair screeches backward and falls to the ground. "Who?"
He hesitates for a while but I wasn't having it.
"Dad," I warn. "Who?"
"The De Santis Group." He finally says.
The name lands like a gunshot to my chest.
I shake my head immediately. "No. No, that's not….. They're competitors, not criminals."
"They're survivors," he says quietly. "And we were expendable."
I step back, my pulse roaring in my ears. " So You're saying they framed you."
"I'm saying they sacrificed us to save themselves."
"That's insane." I managed to make out.
"They buried evidence," he continues with his voice tight. "Redirected liability. Pushed it all onto us."
"They can't do that," I say. "That's illegal."
"They already did."
My phone vibrates in my hand. Once and then Twice but I ignore it.
"This is a mistake," I insist. "We'll clear it up. We'll—"
"Ariana." His voice breaks. "They're issuing an arrest warrant."
The word doesn't register in my head yet.
"An arrest… what?"
"For me."
The room tilts and I almost lose my balance.
"No," I whisper. "No, no, no. You didn't do anything."
"I know."
"So they'll see that." I tried to reason.
"They won't," he says. "They don't want to."
A loud bang echoes outside followed by shouting and then another loud bang.
"What's that?" I ask, already knowing but refusing to accept.
My father stands up and Straightens his jacket like he's going into a meeting, not the end of his life. "They're here."
Panic claws up my throat. "Already?"
"They leaked the story hours ago," he says. "The media followed."
As if summoned by some magic, flashes explode through the glass walls of the office. I look to see cameras, reporters and police officers trying to barricade the building.
My phone vibrates again. This time I look.
ARIANA VALE'S FATHER ACCUSED OF MASSIVE FRAUD
Another notification pops up.
VALE EMPIRE UNDER INVESTIGATION
Another one.
HEIRESS SILENT AS SCANDAL ERUPTS
I drop the phone like it just burnt me.
"They're destroying us," I whisper mostly to myself.
My father steps closer to me and grips my shoulders hard. "Listen to me. You need to leave."
"What?" I snap. "No. I'm not going anywhere."
"Yes, you are." He insists.
"I'm not abandoning you." I try to argue.
"This isn't abandonment," he says fiercely. "This is survival."
The office door rattles as someone tries to come in.
"Mr. Vale!" a voice calls. "Open up!"
My chest tightens. "Dad…."
"Look at me," he orders and I immediately obey.
"If they can't reach me, they'll come for you," he says. "They'll freeze your assets. Drag your name through the dirt. Use you."
"I don't care."
"I do."
The door bangs again.
"Dad—"
"You are my weakness," he says softly. "And they know it."
My eyes burn with unshed tears. "So what do I do?"
"Disappear."
The word chills me down my spine.
"What?"
"You leave tonight. No trace. No contact."
"I can't just—"
"Yes, you can," he says. "You're stronger than you think."
The door handle starts to turn.
He presses a flash drive into my hand. "Everything I couldn't destroy is on here."
"What is it?"
"Proof."
My fingers curl around it. "Then we'll use it."
"Not yet," he says. "Not until you're safe."
"Dad—"
"Ariana," he says urgently. "Promise me."
"I—"
"Promise." He orders and this time, I have no choice.
My throat tightens. "I promise."
The door bursts open and the police walks in.
"Richard Vale, you're under arrest."
Their Hands grab him but he doesn't resist, instead, there's a sorry look in his eyes as he stares at me.
I scream his name.
He doesn't fight. He just looks at me and then smiles but not because he is okay, but because he wants me to be.
I don't remember leaving the building.
I remember noise. Shouts. Cameras. Someone yelling my name like they own it.
I remember someone asking, "Did you know?"
I remember another voice shouting, "Are you complicit?"
I run.
By the time I stop, my lungs are on fire and my heels are broken.
I lean against a wall, shaking. Just then my phone rings.
It is an Unknown number.
I answer it immediately without thinking. "Hello?"
There was a pause, then I heard a man's voice. It was calm and cold at the same time.
"You should've stayed invisible, Ariana Vale."
Then the call ends.
I stare at the screen, my blood turning to ice.
They're watching me.
I slide down the wall, breathing hard as tears cloud my vision.
This morning, I was untouchable.
Tonight, my father is in a cell.
My name is poison and the world wants to watch me fall and burn.
I wipe my tears with the back of my hand and stand.
No more crying.
If they want Ariana Vale destroyed—
Fine.
They can have her.