Chapter 14 - The Confrontation in the Study
At 1:00 AM, the Sterling Manor was quiet. Rain tapped rhythmically against the tall leaded-glass windows of the second-floor study.
Aunt Clara sat behind the massive mahogany desk, sipping scotch from a crystal glass, reviewing a stack of financial documents under the warm light of a brass lamp.
The heavy oak doors of the study creaked open.
Clara didn't look up immediately. “Julian? Did you handle the boathouse situation? The funeral director called... he sounded terrified, talking about some ridiculous rumor from the staff—”
She stopped talking as three shadows fell across her desk.
Clara raised her head slowly. Her crystal glass slipped from her fingers, shattering on the hardwood floor as scotch spilled over her Persian rug.
Standing in the doorway was Ethan, his suit torn and bloodied at the shoulder. Beside him stood Emma, holding the heavy iron wrench.
And standing between them, wrapped in a black wool coat, her golden hair damp from the rain, was Sophia.
“Hello, Aunt Clara,” Sophia said softly, her raspy voice echoing in the grand room. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Clara’s face turned gray. She stumbled backward out of her leather chair, her hands clutching the edge of the desk for support. “Sophia...? No... no, that’s impossible! You were dead! The doctor signed the paper!”
“The doctor took a bribe, Clara,” Ethan said, stepping into the room, his blue eyes burning with cold rage. “Just like you bribed the clinic in Vermont twenty-six years ago.”
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Emma walked up to the desk, tossing the leather-bound will and the cassette tape directly onto Clara’s open financial files.
“It’s over, Aunt Clara,” Emma said, her voice steady and full of authority. “The police are already down at the boathouse pulling Julian out of the water. And they have the tape of Father explaining exactly who Julian really is.”
