Chapter 7 - The Downfall of the Roberts
By the following week, the fall of the Roberts family was the leading headline on every major financial news outlet and social media platform in the country.
The once-untouchable industrial empire founded by Richard Roberts had completely disintegrated. Federal investigators, acting on the comprehensive forensic audits provided by Nova Group’s legal division, raided the Roberts corporate headquarters at dawn. Boxes of documents were hauled out by federal agents, and multiple executives—including David Miller—were slapped with indictments for corporate fraud, bribery, and embezzlement.
At the crumbling suburban estate, the atmosphere was one of total despair.
Richard Roberts sat alone in his darkened study, surrounded by stacks of unpaid bills, foreclosure notices, and court summonses. The grand crystal chandelier overhead had been turned off to save electricity. His phone, which used to ring constantly with calls from politicians, bankers, and high-society elites, now sat completely silent on the mahogany desk.
The heavy oak door swung open, and Brenda walked in. Her hair was unbrushed, her face bare of makeup, and her expensive designer clothes looked wrinkled and worn.
“Richard,” she said, her voice hollow and trembling. “The bank... they’ve officially seized the summer house in the Hamptons. And the cars... the accounts are completely locked. We don't even have enough cash to pay the utility bills for next week.”
Richard didn’t look up. He stared blankly at a framed photograph on his desk—a picture of David and Clara smiling smugly at a charity gala from a year ago. Back then, they had believed they were kings of the world, untouchable and superior to everyone around them.
“It was her,” Richard whispered, his voice cracking with bitter, impotent rage. “That worthless, penniless housewife... she was the dragon all along.”
“We have to call Mark,” Brenda pleaded, tears spilling down her withered cheeks. “He’s our son! Surely he can talk to her! Surely he can convince her to call off her lawyers, to give us back our home, our company!”
“Mark?” Richard let out a harsh, broken laugh that sounded more like a sob. “Mark hasn’t answered our calls in six days, Brenda. He’s gone. She took everything from us, and she took him too.”
Across town, in a modest, cramped two-bedroom apartment, David and Clara were screaming at each other.
“This is all your fault!” Clara shrieked, throwing a plastic water bottle across the living room. It bounced off the wall and hit David squarely in the chest. “If you hadn’t been so arrogant, if you hadn’t bragged about your fake promotion, if you hadn't insulted that little girl, none of this would have happened!”
“My fault?!” David roared, jumping to his feet and shoving past the stack of moving boxes that cluttered the tiny hallway. “You were right there laughing along with your mother! You called her a beggar! You stood there like a queen bee watching your mother-in-law throw away a child’s dress!”
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“We’re ruined, David!” Clara buried her face in her hands, sinking onto a bare mattress that lay on the floor because they couldn't afford a bed frame. “We have no money, no job, no status, and my name is on federal indictment lists for insider trading. We’re going to prison!”
The harsh reality of their situation finally settled over them like a lead blanket. The luxury watches, the designer clothes, the country club memberships, the arrogant snobbery—it had all turned to dust. They had spent their entire lives looking down on people they deemed “cheap,” only to discover that true worth was measured not by inherited wealth or arrogant titles, but by character, integrity, and humanity. And in that ultimate test, they had been utterly bankrupt.
