Chapter 10 - Bloodline of Lies
The rain pelted the helipad as Eleanor stared at the illuminated screen of the tablet in absolute disbelief. The woman in the file was Victoria Vance—her mother, who was supposed to have died in a tragic plane crash fifteen years ago.
"She’s alive?" Eleanor’s voice trembled, her world shattering into a thousand irreconcilable pieces. "She... she planned all of this?"
"Victoria Vance never died," Maria said, stepping closer, her gun still kept at a low readied position. "She faked her death after your father’s company went bankrupt. She blamed the Sterling family for her ruin. She spent fifteen years building an international crime syndicate specifically to destroy Julian’s empire from the inside out."
Maria looked at Eleanor with something resembling pity. "She sent me to ruin your marriage, frame you for murder, and drive Julian to self-destruction. You were never meant to survive the night in the nursery, Eleanor. You were collateral damage in your own mother’s war."
Julian stepped in front of Eleanor, shielding her with his body. "Where is she, Maria?"
"Geneva," Maria replied. "She’s liquidating Sterling Global's foreign assets as we speak. In three hours, the entire stock market opens, and your company will be stripped bare. If you want to stop her, you have to leave now."
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"Why are you telling us this?" Eleanor asked, wiping the rain from her eyes. "You tried to kill my son!"
"I pinched a baby to make a scene, heiress," Maria smirked coldly. "I had twenty opportunities to break his neck, but I didn't. I am a mercenary, not a monster. Thomas stopped paying me the moment he died. Victoria is the one with the real deep pockets... and she double-crossed me in Berlin last week."
