Chapter 8 - The Ghost in the Library
Julian contacted Liam, arranging to meet in a quiet coffee shop,
He was cautious, wondering if his cousin had been bought off,
Liam arrived, looking nervous, his long hair pulled back in a ponytail,
"Julian, I'm glad you called," Liam began, his voice shaking,
"I saw the papers, I saw what they were saying about Clara,"
"Is it true, Liam? Is it true that you saw what happened?"
Liam took a deep breath, his eyes meeting Julian's,
"Yes, I saw it, All of it,
Your mother... she was out of control,"
Julian felt a surge of relief, "Will you testify, Liam?"
Liam hesitated, his fingers tracing the rim of his coffee cup,
"They've already contacted me, Julian, your family's lawyers,
They offered to fund my entire music tour if I signed an agreement,"
Julian felt his heart sink, "You accepted it?"
"No, I didn't," Liam stated, his voice gaining strength,
"I can't live like that, Julian, I can't live a lie,
I'll testify, for Clara,"
Julian reached across the table, squeezing his cousin's hand,
"Thank you, Liam, You don't know how much this means,"
He finally had a witness, a cracks in the Sterling façade,
But later that day, Clara was researching something on a whim,
She was looking up old property records and historical data on the Sterling family,
She was intrigued by the library at the estate,
a place she had always found fascinating,
She stumbled upon a name that hadn't appeared in any of the family lore,
It was "Evelyn Sterling," the first wife of Arthur’s father,
There were very few records of her, as if she had been erased from history,
Evelyn had apparently died in a tragic accident,
but the details were vague, inconsistent,
"Erased," Clara muttered to herself,
"Just like they tried to do with me,"
She contacted her lawyer, Ms. Jenkins, with the new name,
Sarah Jenkins dug deeper, using her resources to search older legal databases,
She found a sealed court document, a settlement agreement,
it had been filed thirty years ago,
It was a non-disclosure agreement for one "Evelyn Sterling,"
and the other party was "Arthur Sterling,"
Clara realized with a jolt that Evelyn hadn't died in an accident,
she had been silenced, removed from the family with money,
Just like they had tried to do with her,
This was a pattern, a twisted tradition of the Sterling family,
They didn't just maintain a standard; they buried their mistakes,
She felt a newfound resolve, a desire to expose not just Victoria’s assault,
but the fundamental rot at the core of the Sterling family's wealth,
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She wouldn't just be the victim; she would be the whistleblower,
revealing the ghosts that haunted the grand Sterling estate library.
