Chapter 6 - Unmasking the Monster
The next morning, the Sterling name was splashed across every major news network and financial paper across the continent. Headlines screamed: *HEDGE FUND HEIRESS ARRESTED FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER AT CLIFFSIDE GALA.*
Mark was released on five million dollars bail as an accessory after the fact for attempting to destroy evidence. When he walked out of the precinct, the flashes of a hundred cameras blinded him. Instead of fleeing home, he drove his Mercedes straight to the hospital, flanked by two private security guards.
He found me sitting on the bench outside the ICU garden terrace.
"Eleanor!" he hissed, marching toward me, his hair disheveled, his eyes bloodshot and erratic. "Have you lost your absolute mind? You set your father loose on my family? Do you know what this is doing to Sterling Capital’s stock? We lost four hundred million dollars in market cap at the opening bell!"
I slowly stood up, looking at the man I had shared a bed with for three years. I saw nothing behind his blue eyes except hollow greed and monstrous self-preservation.
"Chloe is still in a coma, Mark," I said, my voice completely level. "Her brain pressure spiked twice last night."
"And that’s terrible, Eleanor! Truly, it’s tragic!" Mark waved his hands frantically. "We will pay for the best rehabilitation clinic in Switzerland. We will buy her a townhouse in Manhattan when she recovers! But you must drop the charges against Amanda. Go to the District Attorney and tell them it was an accident. Tell them the video was a misunderstanding!"
"A misunderstanding?" I laughed, a bitter, razor-sharp sound. "She pushed my baby off a twenty-foot cliff into boulders because she blocked her photograph."
"She’s my sister!" Mark screamed, stepping into my space, his finger stabbing toward my face. "You were a penniless widow when I married you! I took you in, I bought you jewelry, I tolerated that bastard daughter of yours at our family functions! You owe everything you have to the Sterling name! If you destroy Amanda, I will ruin you. I will tie you up in court until you are bankrupt, living in the gutter where I found you!"
A heavy hand clamped onto Mark’s shoulder like an iron vise. Mark spun around angrily, only to freeze.
Arthur Vance stood there, towering over him, accompanied by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
"Mr. Sterling," Arthur said softly, his voice vibrating with absolute authority. "My late wife and I raised Eleanor to be humble, not penniless. You were so blinded by your own hubris that you never bothered to check my daughter’s legal trust. Eleanor owns forty-two percent of the mezzanine debt that currently finances Sterling Capital's commercial real estate portfolio."
Mark blanched. "What?"
May you like
"I called your primary creditors two hours ago," Arthur continued, leaning down until his eyes were inches from Mark’s trembling face. "The loan is now in technical default due to criminal indictments against your principal board members. By noon tomorrow, Eleanor will foreclose on your family’s headquarters."
---
