Part 15
By 6:00 AM, the signed relinquishment forms arrived in Marcus’s inbox.
The European shipping routes were fully restored, completely untethered from Thomas’s ghost.
I hadn't slept a single wink, but the adrenaline coursing through my veins was better than any caffeine.
I walked out of the boardroom to find Marcus waiting with a fresh cup of black coffee and a pristine tablet.
"They folded completely," Marcus said, his eyes filled with a new level of respect.
"The board of directors is calling you the 'Iron Queen' behind your back."
"Let them call me whatever they want, as long as they follow orders," I said, taking a sip of the bitter liquid.
"What's the next item on the agenda?"
Marcus hesitated, his thumb hovering over the screen of the tablet.
"We received a personal package delivered to the lobby twenty minutes ago."
"It bypassed our mailroom entirely. A courier dressed in high-end civilian clothes dropped it off."
"It wasn't dangerous in terms of explosives, but... you need to see this."
He handed me the tablet, which showed a photograph of the item inside the box.
It was a vintage silver rattle, identical to the ones my father had bought for my twins before he passed.
Inside the rattle was a small, handwritten note on heavy, cream-colored cardstock.
The sins of the father are visited upon the children, but the sins of the husband are paid by the wife.
Welcome to the high table, Victoria. – Alistair Sterling.
My heart stopped for a fraction of a second before hardening into solid stone.
Alistair Sterling was the billionaire patriarch of Sterling Industries, the largest defense contractor in the hemisphere.
He was a man who moved prime ministers and presidents like chess pieces.
Thomas Vance had been nothing more than a stray dog that Alistair had trained to bite my family.
The real architect of my ruin wasn't my pathetic ex-husband.
It was the man who had given Thomas the resources to steal my life in the first place.
"He's trying to see if I'll shake," I whispered, my grip tightening on the tablet until the glass groaned.
"He wants to know if I'm a little girl playing in her father's suit, or a true sovereign."
May you like
"Marcus, cancel all my local appointments for the next three days."
"We are booking a private flight to London. It's time to meet the puppet master."
