Chapter 18 - The Poisoned Well
One of Evan’s security guards stepped inside, looking pale and alert. "Mr. Vance, Mrs. Vance—we have a situation outside the building. And at the manor."
Evan was on his feet in an instant. "What happened?"
"There are reporters outside," the guard said, keeping his voice low but urgent. "Dozens of them. Someone just leaked an anonymous dossier to every major news outlet in New England. It claims that Clara Vance concealed a massive corporate tax fraud committed by Charles Montgomery, and that the manor itself was built on seized municipal lands. But that's not the worst of it."
The guard glanced anxiously toward Julian. "A process server just arrived at the gates of Montgomery Manor. They’re serving a temporary restraining order and eviction warrant obtained by Carolyn Vance from a county judge an hour ago."
"Carolyn?" I gasped. "Carolyn is on bail awaiting trial! How could she file an eviction notice?"
"Carolyn didn't file it alone," Julian said, his smartphone already buzzing furiously in his breast pocket. He looked at the screen, and his face hardened to granite. "My God... Carolyn’s defense attorney just formed a coalition with Arthur Sterling."
Marcus stiffened at the name. "Sterling? Arthur Sterling is still alive?"
"You know him?" Evan demanded, turning toward Marcus.
"Arthur Sterling was our father’s former business partner," Marcus said, his voice suddenly cold and deadly. "The man who went bankrupt trying to hostile-takeover Charles’s logistics conglomerate twenty years ago. Grandfather crushed him in court and forced him out of the state."
"And Arthur Sterling has spent the last two decades waiting in the tall grass," Julian finished, his fingers rapidly tapping out messages on his phone. "Sterling just bought out Carolyn’s legal defense debt in exchange for the power of attorney over her minority shares. He’s using an archaic cross-collateralization clause from our father’s original marriage contract with Evelyn. If that clause is recognized by an emergency probate magistrate, Carolyn and Sterling have legal right of reentry into Montgomery Manor until the full estate trial."
"Lucy is at that house," I said, a wave of cold terror washing over me. All the court battles, all the money, all the inheritances meant nothing. "Evan, Lucy is alone with Mrs. Gable!"
"We’re moving. Now," Evan commanded, pulling me toward the door.
Marcus stood motionless for a fraction of a second, his predatory gaze shifting between the crumpled legal files on the table and the terror in my eyes. His high-priced attorney grabbed his arm. "Marcus, wait! If Sterling is involved, this invalidates our current legal strategy. We should withdraw and let them tear each other apart—"
Marcus grabbed Harrison by the lapels of his custom suit, slamming the lawyer back against the oak paneling with terrifying speed.
"If that bitch Carolyn puts one finger on my niece," Marcus hissed into the lawyer's face, his voice trembling with quiet savagery, "there won't be enough of you left for probate. Pack your papers and get the hell out of my way."
He released Harrison, who stumbled back in sheer terror, and turned to Evan. "I have two black Suburbans parked downstairs with four ex-military contractors who don't ask questions. You want to get to the manor before Sterling’s process servers tear through the front gates, you follow me."
Evan didn't hesitate. In the high-stakes world of family war, yesterday's phantom brother had just become our most dangerous vanguard. "Let’s go."
We tore out of the private club and plunged into the Boston traffic. Outside, flashing cameras strove to capture my face as we rushed past the front steps, but Marcus’s security team formed an impenetrable wedge, shoving aggressive paparazzi aside like ragdolls.
Within minutes, our three-vehicle convoy was screaming north toward the estate, sirens blaring from Marcus’s lead vehicle, tires screeching against wet asphalt as the winter dusk began to settle over the hills.
Inside the rear seat of Evan’s car, my hands wouldn't stop shaking. "Evan, what if Carolyn hurts her? Carolyn hates Lucy. She called her an abomination because Lucy has Charles’s eyes."
"Carolyn is a coward who only bullies those who can't fight back," Evan said, his arm wrapping around my shoulders, his eyes deadly calm. "And she forgets who is waiting on the other side of that gate. I placed six former Marines on the property perimeter this morning, Clara. Sterling isn't getting past the front lawn without a war."
As we rounded the final bend on the forested country road leading up to the Montgomery gates, my heart leaped into my throat.
Flashing red and blue lights illuminated the ancient stone pillars. Two county sheriff cruisers were parked across the driveway, their high beams pinning the wrought-iron gates in stark relief. Behind them stood a black luxury towncar, and beside it stood Carolyn, swathed in an extravagant white fur coat, holding a smoking cigarette, laughing loudly beside an elderly, silver-haired man in a bespoke cashmere coat.
May you like
Arthur Sterling.
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