Chapter 10 - An Empire Unveiled
By six in the evening, the grand estate had returned to a chilling quiet.
The three hundred guests were gone. The catering staff had packed away the untouched caviar and gourmet entrees under the watchful eyes of my security team. The only sounds remaining were the rustle of the oak trees in the evening breeze and the soft hum of the venue’s water filtration systems cleaning the courtyard fountains.
Richard and Eleanor had not left. They sat on the stone steps like two ghosts who had missed their own funeral, clutching each other against the cold wind. Their phones had been ringing off the hook for the past ninety minutes—creditors, board members, and social acquaintances calling to pull their investments and cancel their memberships.
I walked out of the glass pavilion wearing a tailored charcoal suit, my wet hair now washed, dried, and styled into an elegant, commanding updo. Behind me walked my chief legal counsel, David Chen, carrying a thick black leather portfolio.
Richard looked up, his eyes bloodshot and swollen.
"Samantha..." he croaked, struggling to his feet. "You've had your pound of flesh. Vanessa is in a holding cell at the county jail. The Mitchells just issued a press statement breaking the alliance and canceling our distribution agreements. Every bank in Manhattan has frozen our credit lines. You've ruined us. Are you happy now?"
I stood three paces away from him, looking down with cold precision.
"Happiness has nothing to do with it, Richard," I said smoothly. "This is simply an audit. And your books failed."
"Why did you hate us so much?" Eleanor sobbed, her mascara caked across her hollow cheeks. "We gave you life! We clothed you! We gave you a roof over your head until you were eighteen!"
"You gave me life so you could use me as a scapegoat," I replied, my voice steady and unyielding. "You poured everything into Vanessa because she looked like you, acted like you, and fed your shallow narcissism. You hated me because I looked like Grandma Evelyn—the only person in that family who saw through your pathetic pretenses."
Richard flinched at the mention of his mother's name.
"Speaking of Grandma Evelyn," I said, nodding to David Chen.
David opened the portfolio and handed a set of notarized deeds to Richard. The older man’s hands shook so hard he nearly dropped the papers.
"What is this?" Richard stammered, squinting at the legal text.
"That is the master mortgage and deed of trust to the Sterling family estate in Greenwich," I explained calmly. "You took out a massive second mortgage on the house three years ago to pay for your failing venture, through an offshore lender called Apex Sovereign Trust."
Richard's jaw dropped. His breath caught in his throat. "Apex... Apex Sovereign is..."
"Apex Sovereign is a wholly-owned shell company of Carter Holdings," I finished his sentence with a razor-sharp smile. "I bought your mortgage paper twenty-four months ago for fifty cents on the dollar, Richard. You missed your third consecutive quarterly balloon payment yesterday at midnight."
"No..." Eleanor gasped, grabbing Richard's arm. "No, Richard, tell me this isn't real! Not the house! The Greenwich house has been in the family for eighty years!"
"It isn't in your family anymore, Eleanor," I said, letting each word land like a hammer. "You have forty-eight hours to pack your personal belongings. The moving vans arrive on Tuesday at eight in the morning. Any luxury vehicles, heirloom art, or antique furnishings registered under corporate liens will remain on the property to offset your outstanding balance."
Richard sank back onto the marble step, his head in his hands, completely broken. The arrogant, untouchable titan of the Sterling family was reduced to a penniless, homeless old man, entirely at the mercy of the daughter he had cast out into the cold.
"Where... where are we supposed to go?" Richard whispered, tears falling freely onto the limestone.
May you like
"That is entirely your concern," I replied, checking my watch. "Now, get off my property before I have Marcus trespass you alongside your criminal daughter."
Without waiting for another word, I turned my back on them and walked toward the glass doors of my estate.
