Chapter 19 - The Dead PatriarchRichard Crawford requested one condition.
I come alone.
Naturally, I ignored it.
Our security team followed from a distance as I entered an abandoned private club overlooking Elliott Bay.
Richard sat beside the fireplace.
Eighty-one years old.
Silver hair.
Perfect posture.
Alive.
“You have Catherine's eyes,” he said.
“You threatened my daughter.”
Richard frowned.
“No.”
“Everyone suddenly seems innocent of that.”
“Because whoever threatened Aria wants you angry enough to stop thinking.”
That caught my attention.
Richard gestured toward the chair opposite him.
I remained standing.
“You destroyed Daniel Vale.”
“Yes.”
The effortless admission stunned me.
“You admit it?”
“I threatened him. I forced him out. I protected an investment that eventually became Sterling Global.”
“You're proud of that?”
“Pride has nothing to do with survival.”
I felt disgust rise inside me.
“My father spent thirty years believing you were dead.”
“Arthur needed freedom from me.”
“And now?”
Richard smiled.
“Now I need my company back.”
“It was never your company.”
His smile widened.
“Ask your lawyers.”
He slid a document across the table.
A forty-year-old financing agreement.
Hidden inside its provisions was an equity conversion clause.
If authentic, Richard's original financing could potentially convert into a controlling interest under specific conditions.
“You think a piece of paper gives you my family's empire?”
“No.”
He leaned forward.
“I think the truth does.”
Then his expression changed.
“Your father isn't the person you should fear, Vivienne.”
“Who is?”
“The person who sent you that photograph.”
“You?”
“No.”
“Adrian?”
“No.”
Richard looked toward the dark windows.
“Someone who wants the Sterlings, the Crawfords, and the Vales fighting each other.”
My phone buzzed.
Security alert.
MEDINA ESTATE — PERIMETER BREACH.
May you like
My heart stopped.
Aria.
