Chapter 10 - The Mother’s Ultimatum
I unfolded the paper under the soft glow of the nursery nightlight. The handwriting was sharp, beautiful, and terrifyingly familiar, even though I had never seen it in person before.
“Dearest Claire,
You have proven to be a remarkably stubborn adversary. Most women in your position would have taken the twenty-three dollars, crawled into a corner, and disappeared quietly into the night. Instead, you built an empire out of my son’s ashes and dared to stand in my ballroom.
The children are lovely, aren't they? They carry the Sterling bloodline, which means they belong to the dynasty—not to a stray litigator who thinks she can outplay a ghost.
If you want to keep them, come alone to the grand rotunda of the Grand Central Terminal at midnight tomorrow. Bring the controlling shares of Lane Global, sign over the entirety of the Vance estate trust, and leave Julian Cross behind permanently.
If you bring the police, or if Julian takes so much as a single step behind you... I will burn this entire building to the ground with everyone inside it.
With love,
Victoria Sterling.”
The paper slipped from my numb fingers, fluttering softly down onto the nursery rug.
Ethan had crept into the room behind us, his eyes wide as he read the words reflected in the glass of the crib. “My mother... she’s insane. She’s actually insane.”
“She’s not insane, Ethan,” a cold, hard voice echoed from the doorway behind us.
We all spun around.
Standing in the nursery doorway, leaning casually against the doorframe with a silenced automatic pistol pointed directly at Julian’s chest, was a woman who should have been dead.
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Victoria Sterling looked breathtakingly elegant, wearing a sharp white tailored suit, her silver-streaked blonde hair pulled back into a flawless chignon, her eyes as cold and dead as winter ice.
“Hello, my ungrateful son,” Victoria smiled, her gaze shifting slowly from Ethan to me. “And hello, Claire. Did you really think you could win a war against a ghost?”
