Chapter 2 - The Daughter Nobody Was Supposed to KnowAdrian read the name twice.
Richard Sterling.
His father had died when Adrian was eleven.
At least that was the story Adrian had lived with for almost three decades.
A boating accident off the Massachusetts coast.
Body recovered two days later.
Closed casket.
Vivian had refused to let Adrian see him.
Too damaged, she'd said.
Adrian had never questioned it.
He had been a child.
Now he stood beneath crystal chandeliers holding a letter that appeared to have been written by Richard fourteen years after his supposed death.
The date at the top was impossible.
Adrian looked at Scarlett.
“Explain.”
She wiped one tear quickly.
“This isn't the place.”
“You seemed very concerned about that before.”
“Because Noah is here.”
Adrian glanced toward his son.
Noah sat wrapped in Adrian's jacket while one of Adrian's oldest friends, Dr. Marcus Lane, examined his hands and face.
Marcus looked up.
“He's cold, but his temperature is coming up. No obvious injuries.”
Adrian nodded.
“Don't let anyone near him.”
Marcus looked toward Vivian.
“Anyone?”
“Anyone.”
Vivian's expression hardened.
Scarlett stepped closer.
“The DNA report is real.”
Adrian looked at her.
“So you're my sister.”
“Yes.”
The word felt absurd.
He had no sister.
He had grown up alone inside this enormous house while Vivian told him he was the last continuation of the Sterling line.
No cousins close enough to matter.
No siblings.
No father after eleven.
Only Vivian.
Always Vivian.
“How old are you?”
“Thirty-four.”
Adrian calculated automatically.
He was forty.
Scarlett had been born when Richard was supposedly happily married to Vivian.
He stared at his mother.
“You knew.”
Vivian said nothing.
“How long?”
Still nothing.
“HOW LONG?”
Noah flinched.
Adrian immediately lowered his voice.
Vivian looked at her grandson, then at Adrian.
“Since before Scarlett was born.”
The answer struck harder than he expected.
“You knew Dad had another child?”
“Yes.”
“And you let me believe I was alone?”
“That was your father's decision.”
Scarlett laughed bitterly.
“Don't.”
Vivian turned.
“You have no right—”
“I have every right.”
Scarlett's voice shook.
“You paid my mother to disappear.”
Guests were still watching.
Vivian looked around.
“Everyone needs to leave.”
Nobody moved.
Adrian almost smiled.
Thirty minutes earlier, those people would've obeyed Vivian instantly.
Not anymore.
He faced the guests.
“Please go.”
That worked.
Chairs moved.
Whispers erupted.
People began filing toward the exits.
Phones appeared despite attempts at discretion.
By morning, every wealthy family from Manhattan to Boston would know something had happened at Sterling Manor.
Adrian couldn't care less.
He went to Noah.
“Buddy, Marcus is going to take you upstairs.”
Noah clung to him.
“No.”
“I'm staying in the house.”
“Grandma said you'd leave.”
Adrian froze.
“What?”
Noah looked toward Vivian.
“She said after you signed, you were going away.”
Adrian slowly turned.
Vivian's face changed.
Scarlett looked shocked.
“Going where?” Adrian asked.
Noah shrugged.
“She said you wouldn't be in charge anymore.”
Adrian's heartbeat quickened.
“What else did she say?”
Vivian stepped forward.
“This interrogation stops now.”
Adrian stood.
“You locked him outside to scare me into signing.”
“No.”
“Then tell me what happened.”
“He was misbehaving.”
Adrian stared at her.
“Misbehaving?”
“He entered my office after I told him not to.”
Noah whispered:
“I was looking for my dinosaur.”
Vivian ignored him.
“He opened things that did not belong to him.”
“What did he find?”
No answer.
Adrian looked at Noah.
“What did you see?”
Noah looked toward the stage.
“The red papers.”
Scarlett became still.
“What red papers?” Adrian asked.
Noah pointed.
“She put them in the fireplace.”
Adrian looked toward Vivian.
“You burned documents?”
Vivian's expression remained controlled.
Scarlett whispered:
“Oh God.”
“What?”
Scarlett hurried toward the side office adjoining the ballroom.
Vivian blocked her.
“Stop.”
Scarlett stared.
“You destroyed them?”
“They were copies.”
“Of what?”
Adrian stepped between them.
Scarlett looked at him.
“My mother's letters.”
Adrian frowned.
“Letters to whom?”
Scarlett swallowed.
“Your father.”
Vivian's mouth tightened.
Scarlett continued.
“My mother was Evelyn Vale.”
The name meant nothing to Adrian.
“She worked for Sterling Holdings.”
“When?”
“Thirty-five years ago.”
“And she had an affair with my father.”
Scarlett's eyes hardened.
“They loved each other.”
Vivian laughed once.
“That's what she told you?”
Scarlett ignored her.
“My mother became pregnant. Richard wanted to leave Vivian.”
Adrian stared at his mother.
“Is that true?”
“No.”
Scarlett opened the DNA report.
“Then why did you pay Evelyn two million dollars?”
Adrian looked at Vivian.
She said nothing.
Scarlett continued.
“Why did you make her sign an agreement never to contact Richard again?”
Vivian's face hardened.
“Your mother threatened to destroy my family.”
“My mother wanted him to know his daughter.”
Adrian felt sick.
“So Dad never knew about you?”
Scarlett hesitated.
“He did.”
“Then why didn't he find you?”
“Because by then…”
She looked toward the impossible letter.
“…everyone believed he was dead.”
The ballroom seemed to shrink.
Adrian picked up Richard's letter again.
“This was written after the accident.”
“Yes.”
“Where did you get it?”
Scarlett answered:
“My mother.”
“Then Dad survived?”
Scarlett looked at Vivian.
Vivian's composure finally cracked.
“Scarlett.”
But it was too late.
Scarlett said:
“Richard Sterling did not die in that boating accident.”
Adrian felt the floor disappear beneath him.
“Where is he?”
Scarlett's expression changed.
Sadness now.
“I don't know.”
“Don't lie to me.”
“I'm not.”
“You have a letter written fourteen years later.”
“My mother received it anonymously.”
“When?”
“Eleven years ago.”
“What did it say?”
Scarlett pointed toward the pages in Adrian's hand.
“Read it.”
Adrian unfolded the letter.
The handwriting looked familiar.
He remembered birthday cards.
Notes left beside cereal.
His father's signature on old photographs.
The first line made him stop breathing.
Adrian,
If Vivian has kept her promise, you will never read this.
If she has broken it, then you need to know why I disappeared.
Adrian looked up.
Vivian was no longer watching him.
She was looking toward the ballroom entrance.
As if waiting for someone.
Scarlett saw it too.
“Who are you expecting?”
Vivian didn't answer.
Then headlights swept across the tall windows.
A vehicle had entered the circular driveway.
Noah looked toward the doors.
“Dad?”
Adrian walked to the window.
A black sedan stopped outside.
An older man stepped out.
Tall.
Gray-haired.
Moving slowly with a cane.
Adrian stared through the rain.
He had not seen that face since he was eleven.
But he knew it immediately.
The man raised his eyes toward the mansion.
Toward Adrian.
May you like
And Vivian whispered:
“You weren't supposed to come back.”
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