Chapter 3 - The account that didn't exist
Dominic made it twelve feet.
Sterling security stopped him before the revolving doors.
“Get off me!”
He wasn't frightened about Amelia.
Or me.
He was terrified of S7.
That distinction mattered.
Victor ordered everyone into a private conference room while lawyers secured company records.
I expected my brother to destroy Dominic immediately.
Instead, Victor stopped me.
“Don't terminate anything else.”
“Why?”
“Because somebody wants us angry.”
He showed me the transfers.
Money entered S7 from Vanguard Horizon, passed through several companies, then returned disguised as Sterling Capital investments.
Someone had been laundering money through our family name.
Dominic finally spoke.
“I didn't steal it.”
“Then why run?”
“Because you're not supposed to know.”
Victor laughed once.
“Wrong answer.”
Dominic insisted he'd discovered S7 eighteen months earlier.
Someone inside Vanguard was using his authorization.
He investigated privately.
Then photographs arrived.
Sophia leaving school.
Noah playing soccer.
Amelia shopping.
Me entering our house.
A message followed:
Keep signing.
Dominic obeyed.
I wanted to believe nothing he said.
Unfortunately, fear looked real.
“What about Amelia?”
His silence returned.
“Why two families?”
“That started before S7.”
“So don't hide behind blackmail.”
He lowered his head.
He had married Amelia young.
Their relationship collapsed but never legally ended because Dominic claimed their paperwork had been completed when it hadn't.
Then he met me.
He lied.
One lie required another.
Eventually he resurrected his relationship with Amelia while telling each of us the other no longer existed.
No conspiracy forced that.
That was simply Dominic.
Amelia quietly removed her wedding ring.
Then Victor's phone rang.
My eldest brother, Senator Alexander Sterling.
Victor put him on speaker.
“Do not touch S7.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
Alexander went silent.
“Because Dad created it.”
Our father had been dead for eleven years.
Victor stood.
“No. I closed every account after his death.”
Alexander answered:
“Apparently you didn't know every account.”
May you like
Then he said something that made even Victor lose his composure.
“Vivienne cannot be allowed to see what's inside.”
