Chapter 5 - The Shadow of the Dynasty
The victory in Courtroom 402 was absolute, but as we walked out into the cold marble corridor, the war was far from over.
Victoria Sterling stood near the elevator bank, surrounded by her shell-shocked legal team. Her expensive pearl necklace seemed to choke her, her white hair slightly disheveled.
As Sebastian and I approached, guided by our security detail, Victoria stepped directly into our path.
"You think you've won, don't you, girl?" Victoria spat at me, her polished, regal voice decaying into raw, aristocratic malice. "You think because a city judge played your pathetic video tape that you are safe? You are a nobody. A fourteen-dollar-an-hour servant who used my son's weakness to breed a bastard!"
"Victoria," Sebastian’s voice dropped so low it sounded like gravel scraping against iron. He stepped in front of me, his massive frame completely blocking her from my sight. "Speak to her again, and I will have you arrested in this hallway for violating the protection order Judge Harper signed thirty seconds ago."
Victoria sneered up at him. "Sebastian Calder. The self-made savior. You think you can protect her from the Sterling family? We owned this city before your father was born! We will tie you up in corporate appeals, federal trust litigation, and media scrutiny until you don't have a dime left to run your precious little restaurants!"
"Try it," Sebastian said simply.
He didn't raise his voice. He didn't gesticulate. He just looked down at her with a calm, terrifying certainty.
"While your lawyers were preparing your pathetic petition this morning, Victoria, my acquisition team purchased fifty-two percent of the distressed debt holding company that owns the mortgages on your Lake Forest estate and your family's shipping docks in Gary, Indiana."
Victoria froze. The color drained from her neck up to her forehead. "What... what did you say?"
"You owe thirty-four million dollars to First National Bank, callable upon notice of corporate insolvency," Sebastian continued softly, stepping closer until he was whispering in her ear. "If Julian Sterling is indicted for a felony today—which he will be—the bank's insolvency clause triggers automatically at 5:00 PM."
He pulled a small gold pen from his pocket and tapped it against his palm.
"At 5:01 PM today, Victoria... I will call your notes. I will seize your Lake Forest estate, auction off your art collection, and padlock your shipping docks. You will not have enough money left to hire a public defender for your son, let alone litigate my trust."
Victoria stared at him, her mouth opening and closing like a fish caught out of water. She looked past Sebastian at me—the waitress she had tried to buy off with twenty thousand dollars—and realized that the universe had just flipped on its axis.
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"Come, Maya," Sebastian said, turning his back on her completely and extending his arm to me. "Lily is waiting for her lunch."
I placed my hand on his arm, feeling the solid, unshakeable muscle beneath his wool coat, and walked past the ruined queen of Gold Coast without saying a single word.
