Chapter 14 - THE WEDDING HALL BECOMES A COURTROOMSterling Ridge looked abandoned.
The flowers were dead.
The tables overturned.
Crystal glasses lay shattered across the ballroom.
The wedding arch still stood beneath the chandelier.
The place where my water broke.
The place where my marriage ended.
The place where Blackthorne would finally collapse.
I entered alone.
At least that's what Eleanor believed.
She stood beneath the chandelier.
Seraphina stood beside her.
My father was there.
Julian too.
All surrounded by armed men.
And in the center of the room was my son.
Not exposed.
Protected inside a secure transport incubator.
I nearly stopped breathing.
“He's alive.”
Eleanor smiled.
“He was always alive.”
I held up the ledger.
“You want this?”
“Yes.”
“Then release him.”
“Give me the ledger first.”
“No.”
Seraphina stepped forward.
“You're in no position to negotiate.”
I smiled.
“You kidnapped a premature infant and expect me to be reasonable?”
Seraphina raised a weapon.
Eleanor held out her hand.
“Enough.”
She looked at me.
“You were always your father's cleverest mistake.”
“My father says you built Blackthorne.”
“He exaggerates.”
“You used me.”
“Yes.”
“You arranged my career.”
“Yes.”
“You arranged my marriage.”
“Yes.”
The words hit harder than any physical blow.
“Why?”
“Because you had one thing we needed.”
“What?”
“Credibility.”
Eleanor smiled.
“You were clean.”
I looked at Julian.
“So you married me to me as a shield.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“He married you because he was told to.”
Julian closed his eyes.
I looked at him.
“Say it.”
He whispered:
“Yes.”
The room went silent.
Then I heard a faint clicking sound.
A microphone.
Diana's voice came through the hidden speaker.
“That's enough.”
The lights exploded on.
Agents poured through every entrance.
Weapons raised.
Eleanor screamed.
Seraphina fired.
An agent tackled her.
The transport incubator was pulled behind cover.
My father dropped to his knees.
Julian froze.
Haines, who had been hidden behind a curtain, tried to escape.
He didn't make it ten feet.
Diana stepped into the ballroom.
“Eleanor Sterling, you're under arrest.”
Eleanor laughed.
“You think you have evidence?”
Diana held up a recorder.
“You confessed.”
Eleanor's smile vanished.
“Everything you said tonight was transmitted live.”
A monitor descended from the ceiling.
The entire conversation appeared.
Audio.
Video.
Every admission.
Every name.
Every threat.
Eleanor looked at me.
“You planned this.”
“Yes.”
She stared at me as if seeing a stranger.
“You've changed.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“I finally stopped being afraid of you.”
Seraphina screamed from the floor.
“This isn't over!”
Diana turned.
“For you, it is.”
Officers dragged her away.
Eleanor was next.
As she passed me, she whispered:
“You think you've won?”
I looked at her.
“You lost.”
She smiled.
“No.”
Her voice dropped.
“You still don't know what your son is.”
My blood ran cold.
“What does that mean?”
But she was already being taken away.
Diana approached.
“What did she mean?”
I looked at the incubator.
My son was breathing.
Alive.
Safe.
But Eleanor's words wouldn't leave my head.
Then an agent ran toward us.
“Agent Cruz.”
“What?”
“We checked the baby's genetic records.”
“And?”
He handed her a file.
Diana read it.
Her face changed.
I watched her.
“What?”
She looked at me.
“Audrey…”
“What?”
“Your son's biological record doesn't match Julian Sterling.”
The room went silent.
“What did you say?”
Diana looked at the document again.
“The paternity test was altered.”
I stared at my son.
Then at Julian.
He looked as shocked as I was.
May you like
Diana whispered:
“There’s another father.”
