Chapter 28 - Brother Against Sister
Emergency lights flickered red.
Parker appeared behind reinforced glass at the far end of the archive.
My mother gasped.
“Parker.”
He smiled.
“Hello, Mother.”
The word devastated her.
She stepped toward him.
“I didn't know.”
“Of course you didn't.”
“I swear.”
“Everyone in this family has an excuse.”
His eyes moved toward Arthur.
“You didn't know.”
Then Richard.
“You did what was necessary.”
Finally, me.
“And Vivienne simply inherited everything.”
“I didn't take anything from you.”
Parker laughed.
“You took my life.”
“I didn't even know you existed.”
“Exactly.”
His expression hardened.
“You grew up with my mother.”
I said nothing.
“My grandfather attended your birthdays. Arthur taught you business. You inherited the Sterling name, the Sterling trusts, the Sterling protection.”
His voice cracked for the first time.
“I got Christmas cards from people who knew exactly who I was and never told me.”
My mother began crying harder.
“Parker, please.”
“Don't.”
His face became cold again.
“You want to know why Dominic married Vivienne?”
I stepped forward.
“You arranged it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“At first?”
He smiled.
“To prove something.”
“What?”
“That if Vivienne didn't have the Sterling name, nobody would love her.”
The cruelty of it stunned even Richard.
“I found Dominic years before he met you. Ambitious. Insecure. Obsessed with status.”
Parker looked directly at me.
“He was perfect.”
“You manipulated him.”
“I introduced opportunity.”
“And Eleanor?”
“She recognized you immediately.”
My stomach turned.
Every insult.
Every humiliation.
Every calculated attack.
They had known.
Parker continued.
“But Dominic ruined everything.”
“How?”
“He actually fell in love with you.”
I froze.
“He wasn't supposed to.”
For the first time, the story of my marriage changed shape completely.
Dominic had begun as part of a trap.
But somewhere along the way, the trap had become real.
And when forced to choose between me and status, Dominic had still failed.
Parker smiled bitterly.
“That's the funny thing about people, Vivienne.”
“You can design the perfect plan.”
He pressed something in his hand.
“But you can never completely control the human heart.”
A countdown appeared on the wall.
04:59
Adrian stared at it.
“What did you do?”
May you like
Parker disappeared from the glass.
The archive doors locked.
