Chapter 12 - Blood and Treason
"You tried to kill me," I whispered into the receiver, my hand clenching the metal casing so hard my knuckles went stark white. "You gave Victor the keys to my father's company. You let him parade that whore through my home. You orchestrated the theft of my life's work!"
"Don't be vulgar, Grace. 'Whore' is such an unrefined word for your sister," Eleanor Carter said smoothly. "And please, stop whining about your father's company. Richard was a weak, sentimental fool who thought commerce was about philanthropy. I built the Carter empire with my own family's old European money, and I will not watch you dismantle it into a charity ward."
"You faked your death," I snarled, tears of pure venom stinging my eyes. "You let me mourn you! You let me stand alone while Victor bled me dry!"
"I needed you vulnerable, my dear," Eleanor replied, her tone as conversational as if we were discussing the weather over tea at the Hamptons. "A grieving orphan is so delightfully malleable. If you hadn't brought Julian Sterling into the picture, you would have signed the final bankruptcy restructuring tomorrow morning, leaving Apex Meridian with complete control, and you would have retired quietly to a countryside estate on a modest trust allowance. You would have lived in peace."
"And what about Victor?" Julian's voice cut in, sharp and lethal as a surgical blade. "Did you tell Victor he was merely a sacrificial pawn, Eleanor? He's sitting in a federal detention center right now, facing thirty years for corporate espionage and grand larceny."
"Victor has served his purpose," Eleanor dismissed coldly. "He was greedy, vain, and exceptionally stupid. He actually believed Olivia loved him. Men like Victor Whitmore are born to be used and discarded. But you, Julian... you disappoint me. The Sterling family has always understood the necessity of ruthlessness. Why are you risking your entire capital group for a broken woman who couldn't even keep her husband's hands off her secretary?"
Julian leaned over the speaker, his gaze locked onto mine, his expression a fortress of unyielding conviction.
"Because unlike you, Eleanor, Grace possesses something you could never buy with all your Swiss billions," Julian said, his voice dropping into a deadly, quiet register. "Grace has fire. She has honor. And as of ten minutes ago, the Sterling Group has acquired fifty-one percent of Banque Cantonale's holding notes. Your personal freeze order is being filed in Geneva right now."
A momentary pause stretched across the line. For the first time, Eleanor's poise cracked, replaced by a razor-thin hiss.
"You wouldn't dare. If you freeze those accounts, the collateral liquidation will crash the European markets."
"Then prepare for the crash," Julian countered smoothly. "Because by dawn, Grace and I are coming for everything you stole."
"You won't make it to dawn, Julian," Eleanor said, and the line went dead.
A sudden, deafening crack shattered the night air.
*BANG.*
The heavy armored glass of our limousine's passenger side webbed into a thousand opaque fractures.
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"Sniper! Get down!" Julian roared, instantly throwing his entire body over mine, slamming me onto the floor of the cabin as the vehicle lurched violently sideways, tires shrieking against the wet asphalt of the FDR Drive.
***