Chapter 10 - The File Marked STERLING
David survived.
The bullet struck his shoulder.
The shooter escaped wearing a stolen maintenance uniform.
Blaire reached the hospital with Luca.
“You don’t have to stay,” she told him.
“Yes, I do.”
“Why?”
He looked at her.
“You know why.”
This time she did not force him to say it.
David regained consciousness at midnight.
His first question was about Fiona.
His second was whether Blaire had found the STERLING file.
“What file?”
He gave her a storage locker number.
Inside they found a metal case.
STERLING.
The codicil was there.
Sebastian’s final legal instruction divided a special block of voting shares.
Luca retained control.
But a minority ownership stake had been placed into trust for Thomas Vale’s child.
Blaire.
The stake was worth billions.
She laughed when she read it.
Not because it was funny.
Because $1,846 remained in her checking account.
Yesterday she had been afraid she could not afford daycare.
Today lawyers were explaining that she owned part of one of America’s largest private companies.
“I don’t want it.”
Luca looked at her.
“It’s yours.”
“It’s your family’s company.”
“It was my father’s decision.”
“He wasn’t my father.”
“He didn’t need to be.”
She stared at him.
“You really mean that.”
“Yes.”
Margaret warned that accepting the shares would place Blaire in the middle of Sterling politics.
Blaire considered refusing.
Then she remembered Graham.
David.
Her mother.
Twenty-six years of people deciding what she was allowed to know.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
“I’m accepting them.”
Luca smiled slightly.
“Good.”
“Why?”
“Because half my board is going to panic.”
For the first time in weeks, Blaire laughed freely.
Then Luca’s phone rang.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He listened.
“When?”
He hung up.
“Graham Vale was attacked during transport.”
“Is he dead?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“He disappeared.”
The convoy had been struck by a truck.
Two agents injured.
Graham gone.
An hour later, Blaire received a message.
A photograph of Fiona sleeping.
Taken inside Luca’s secured apartment.
Blaire screamed.
They raced upstairs.
Fiona was safe.
Security had never left her.
But someone had entered earlier.
Someone trusted.
They reviewed footage.
At 3:17 p.m., Eleanor entered Fiona’s bedroom.
She stood beside the bed.
Took the photograph.
Then deleted the original footage.
Blaire stared at her mother.
“Why?”
Eleanor was gone.
On Fiona’s pillow was a note.
I’M SORRY. I HAVE TO FINISH WHAT I STARTED.
Beneath it was an address.
Luca recognized it.
“My father’s old estate.”
They drove there before security could stop them.
The house was dark.
The front door stood open.
Inside, Blaire heard Eleanor arguing.
Then Graham’s voice.
“You should have stayed dead.”
Blaire moved toward the room.
Luca caught her hand.
Too late.
The door opened.
May you like
Eleanor stood inside with a gun.
And it was pointed directly at Luca.
