Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN BEHIND THE MONSTER
Grant was not arrested that morning.
Vivian would not allow it.
She told the police the bracelet incident was an internal misunderstanding. Owen was dismissed, paid, and escorted off the property before anyone could question him properly.
Grant remained chief financial officer.
That decision showed me exactly where Vivian’s loyalty still rested.
Not with truth.
Not with me.
With the company.
Later that afternoon, she summoned me to her private sitting room.
The air purifier was running at maximum power.
Vivian sat beside the window with a cup of untouched tea.
“You may remain employed until the end of the month,” she said.
“I am not asking to remain employed.”
Her gaze sharpened.
“Then why are you still here?”
I placed the hospital bracelet on the table.
For the first time, Vivian Sterling stopped breathing.
Her fingers tightened around the teacup.
“Where did you get that?”
“Your backseat.”
She looked toward the closed door as though Richard’s ghost might be standing outside.
“He promised me he destroyed those things.”
“He promised me you would tell the truth.”
Vivian’s face became pale.
I placed Lillian’s photograph beside the bracelet.
“You stole me from her.”
Vivian’s chin lifted automatically.
“I prevented a scandal.”
“You told my mother I was dead.”
“She was nineteen. Reckless. Emotional.”
“She was my mother.”
“She was my daughter!” Vivian snapped.
The force of her voice stunned us both.
Her teacup struck the saucer.
For one second, the billionaire matriarch disappeared.
In her place was an old woman carrying a graveyard inside her chest.
But grief did not erase what she had done.
“You sent her away,” I said.
“I thought she would return once she understood what she was sacrificing.”
“She returned looking for me.”
Vivian looked away.
“Yes.”
“And Grant killed her.”
Her lips trembled almost imperceptibly.
“I never proved that.”
“You found the mechanic’s report.”
“I found a copy. Grant said Lillian had discovered irregularities and was trying to destroy the company out of revenge. He said the mechanic was an extortionist.”
“And you believed him?”
“I believed what allowed me to survive.”
I stared at her.
“That may be the most honest thing you have ever said.”
Vivian rose from her chair.
“You think I do not know what I became? Every room I enter is filled with people waiting for me to weaken. The board, the press, our competitors, even our own relatives. I protected this family.”
“No. You protected the name.”
Her face twisted.
“In my world, they are the same thing.”
“They were never the same thing to Lillian.”
Vivian turned toward the window.
“I went to the crash site before the road was cleared. Her blood was still on the glass.”
Her voice broke, but she forced it steady.
“I saw what my decisions had created. By then, telling the truth would not bring her back. It would only destroy Sebastian, Richard, thousands of employees, and everything generations of Sterlings built.”
“So you let Grant stay.”
“I watched him.”
“You promoted him.”
“I kept him close.”
“You gave him power.”
Vivian closed her eyes.
“I made a mistake.”
“A mistake is forgetting a birthday. You erased a daughter, stole her baby, and protected the man who may have murdered her.”
The door opened.
Grant entered without knocking.
His eyes moved from the bracelet to the photograph.
“I wondered how long it would take Richard’s little surprise to surface.”
Vivian turned.
“You knew?”
Grant smiled.
“I knew Richard hid something. I simply never knew where.”
He removed his phone and placed it on the table.
On the screen was a live video feed.
Sebastian was entering an abandoned service station outside the city.
Beside him was an elderly man using a cane.
Grant looked at me.
“You found the mechanic.”
May you like
Then he tapped the screen.
A red laser dot appeared on Sebastian’s chest.
