Chapter 4 - The Architect of the Match
The west wing of the Sterling estate was normally quiet, but today it sounded like a battlefield. Muffled shouts echoed through the high-arched corridors. I walked slowly toward Victoria’s sitting room, Noah sleeping peacefully in his carrier strapped securely against my chest.
When I reached the double doors, they were ajar.
Arthur stood in the center of the room, his fists clenched at his sides, glaring at his sister. Victoria sat at her writing desk, pouring a cup of tea with hands that didn't shake in the slightest. Her composure was terrifying.
"You lied to me for three decades," Arthur was saying, his voice vibrating with a terrifying, controlled fury. "You drove Sarah away, you hid her letters, and then—as if that wasn't enough—you fed Vance Lawson the ammunition to destroy my relationship with my own daughter."
Victoria set the porcelain teapot down with a soft click. She looked up at her brother, her expression devoid of remorse, replaced by a cold, arrogant pity.
"I saved you, Arthur," Victoria said calmly, taking a sip of her tea. "You were twenty-four years old, poised to take over the board, and you were throwing your entire future away on a penniless art student from a broken home. If I hadn't intervened, Sterling Enterprises would belong to a board of rival investors today instead of our family."
"She was carrying my child," Arthur growled.
"And I ensured the child was raised away from the wolves," Victoria retorted, her voice rising to match his intensity. "Do you think the board would have accepted an illegitimate heir born out of wedlock? I managed the crisis. And as for Vance Lawson—please. He was a predictable, ambitious tool. I didn't 'give' him the file; I simply left it where an inquisitive, dishonest man like him was bound to find it when he started digging into your private life last year."
"You used my husband to keep tabs on me," I said, stepping fully into the room.
Both of them turned. Arthur’s face softened instantly with anguish when he saw me, but Victoria merely arched an eyebrow, unsurprised by my presence.
"Not just to keep tabs, Chloe," Victoria said smoothly, setting her cup down and standing up to face me. "To manage contingencies. Men like Arthur build empires, but women like me maintain them. Vance was supposed to keep you quiet, married, and safely in the suburbs. He failed because he was stupid enough to abandon you on the night of his mother's gala, right when Arthur's investigators were closing in."
"You broke up my marriage before it even started," I whispered, the rage finally overriding the shock. "You orchestrated every piece of it."
"Marriage is an alliance, Chloe, not a romance," Victoria said coldly. "And right now, your presence here is tearing this family apart. The board is already calling emergency meetings. If you think Arthur can simply hand over his shares to an unknown daughter with a disgraced, fugitive ex-husband, you are deeply mistaken."
Arthur stepped between us, shielding me with his massive frame. He looked at his sister as if seeing a stranger for the first time.
"You are done here, Victoria," Arthur said, his voice dropping to a lethal whisper. "Clean out your suite. By tomorrow morning, your shares in the foundation will be frozen, and your name will be stricken from every corporate entity I control."
Victoria didn't panic. Instead, a slow, chilling smile spread across her face.
May you like
"You can strip me of my title, Arthur, but you can't erase history," she replied softly, walking past us toward the door. "And you certainly can't protect Chloe from what's coming next. Vance didn't just run away with a hard drive. He made a deal with the people who actually own your debt."
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