Chapter 4 - The Aunt Who Knew Too MuchAdrian had always liked Catherine.
That realization made him nauseous.
Aunt Catherine had attended his graduations.
Sent Noah expensive birthday gifts.
Called every Christmas from London or Paris or wherever she happened to be living.
She was Vivian's younger sister but had never seemed like her.
Vivian controlled rooms.
Catherine floated through them.
Warm.
Funny.
Charming.
Now Richard looked at her as if she were carrying a gun.
“What are you doing here?” Adrian asked.
Catherine removed wet gloves.
“Your mother invited me.”
Vivian immediately said:
“No, I didn't.”
Catherine smiled.
“Still lying before checking what evidence exists?”
Scarlett whispered:
“Richard said someone tried to kill him.”
Catherine looked at Richard.
“He's always been dramatic.”
Richard tightened his grip on the cane.
“The boat.”
Catherine's smile disappeared.
Adrian stepped between them.
“Did you sabotage it?”
Catherine laughed.
“No.”
“Then why is he afraid of you?”
“Because Richard and I have different memories.”
Richard reached into his coat again.
This time he removed a folded photograph.
He handed it to Adrian.
The image was old.
Taken near a marina.
Richard stood beside his boat.
Across the dock, Catherine spoke with a man Adrian didn't recognize.
On the back:
August 17.
Two days before the explosion.
“Who is he?” Adrian asked.
Richard answered:
“Samuel Pike.”
Catherine looked bored.
“And?”
“He maintained the fuel system.”
Adrian stared.
“Was he involved?”
“Pike disappeared after the explosion.”
Catherine's eyes hardened.
“That proves nothing.”
“He resurfaced eight years later under another name.”
Richard looked directly at her.
“And deposited two hundred thousand dollars from an account connected to Catherine.”
Adrian turned.
Catherine didn't flinch.
“Business payment.”
“For what?”
“Private investments.”
Richard laughed.
“That's what we're calling attempted murder now?”
Vivian stepped forward.
“This has nothing to do with tonight.”
Richard looked at her.
“It has everything to do with tonight.”
Adrian held up the trust papers.
“Explain how.”
Richard pointed to Section Seven.
Adrian read.
In the event Adrian Sterling becomes unable to serve due to incapacity, disappearance, criminal investigation, or challenge to biological succession, voting authority shall transfer—
He stopped.
“Challenge to biological succession?”
Scarlett approached.
“That clause wasn't in the draft I prepared.”
Adrian looked at her.
“You prepared these?”
“An earlier version.”
“For Vivian?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she told me it was a standard succession update.”
“You're an attorney. You didn't read it?”
“I did. That language wasn't there.”
Vivian spoke sharply.
“Scarlett.”
Scarlett turned.
“No.”
Something had shifted.
She was done obeying.
“You brought me into this family because you knew who I was.”
Vivian said nothing.
“You knew I was Richard's daughter.”
“Yes.”
“You gave me a job because you wanted control over me.”
“I gave you an opportunity.”
“You wanted my legal signature on documents connected to Adrian's trust.”
Adrian looked at the papers.
“Why would Scarlett matter?”
Richard answered.
“Because she is a biological Sterling.”
Adrian understood.
If someone challenged his right to control the trust—
Scarlett could become an alternative beneficiary.
But Scarlett shook her head.
“No. Vivian didn't want me to inherit.”
“What did she want?”
Scarlett looked at Catherine.
“She wanted a succession dispute.”
Adrian felt cold.
A legal fight between two possible heirs could trigger emergency trustee authority.
Which Vivian would control.
“You planned to destabilize the trust.”
Vivian remained silent.
Catherine smiled faintly.
“Now you're thinking like your father.”
Adrian turned.
“Why are you here?”
Catherine walked toward the champagne table.
“Because Vivian panicked.”
“She said she didn't call you.”
“She didn't.”
Catherine poured herself a drink.
“Scarlett did.”
Scarlett stared.
“No, I didn't.”
Catherine raised one eyebrow.
“Someone used your phone.”
Scarlett immediately checked her clutch.
Her phone was gone.
She looked toward Vivian.
Vivian's face changed.
Adrian saw it.
“You took her phone?”
“No.”
Noah whispered:
“Grandma had the red lady's phone.”
Everyone turned.
Vivian closed her eyes briefly.
Adrian crouched.
“When?”
“When she put me outside.”
“What did she do with it?”
“She called somebody.”
Catherine raised her glass.
“Mystery solved.”
Adrian rose.
“So you knew Richard was coming?”
Vivian didn't answer.
Richard looked at her.
“You invited Catherine because you were afraid of me.”
“I called my sister because this family was collapsing.”
“Before I arrived?”
Vivian's silence betrayed her.
Richard laughed bitterly.
“You knew Scarlett contacted me.”
Scarlett stared.
“How?”
Vivian looked toward her.
“You're not as clever as your mother.”
Scarlett flinched.
Richard stepped forward.
“Leave Evelyn out of this.”
Vivian turned on him.
“After thirty years, you're still defending her.”
Adrian watched.
There it was.
Not just money.
Not just power.
Old humiliation.
Richard and Evelyn.
Vivian and Richard.
Catherine somewhere inside the machinery.
Adrian realized the gala had been designed for more than his signature.
It was a stage.
Witnesses.
Public legitimacy.
Vivian intended to announce a restructuring after Adrian signed, making it almost impossible for him to reverse without damaging Sterling Holdings.
But Noah had disrupted something.
“What did Noah find in your office?” Adrian asked.
Vivian looked at him.
“The red papers.”
“What were they?”
No answer.
Noah spoke.
“They had pictures.”
Adrian crouched again.
“Pictures of what?”
Noah frowned, trying to remember.
“A baby.”
Scarlett became still.
“A baby?”
Noah nodded.
“And Aunt Scarlett.”
Scarlett's face drained.
“I've never seen childhood photographs in this house.”
Noah looked at her.
“You were holding the baby.”
Scarlett shook her head.
“That isn't possible.”
“How old did you look?” Adrian asked.
Noah shrugged.
“Like now.”
The room went silent.
A photograph of Scarlett as an adult holding a baby.
Adrian's pulse accelerated.
“What baby?”
Noah looked toward Vivian.
“Grandma said it was me.”
Adrian couldn't breathe.
Scarlett backed away from the podium.
“No.”
Adrian looked at her.
She looked genuinely horrified.
“Noah was born seven years ago,” Adrian said.
“Yes.”
“Where were you?”
Scarlett swallowed.
“Boston.”
“What were you doing?”
“I worked at St. Matthew's Legal Aid.”
Noah was born at St. Matthew's Hospital.
Adrian stared.
Scarlett noticed his expression.
“What?”
“My wife delivered Noah there.”
Scarlett went pale.
“I didn't know.”
Catherine slowly lowered her champagne.
For the first time, even she looked uneasy.
Adrian looked at Vivian.
“What are you hiding?”
Vivian didn't answer.
Noah suddenly reached into the pocket of Adrian's wet jacket.
“I kept this.”
He pulled out a small crumpled piece of red paper.
Everyone froze.
Adrian took it carefully.
It had been torn from a larger document.
Most of the writing was missing.
But one line remained.
INFANT MALE — NOAH STERLING.
Below it:
MATERNAL DONOR: SCARLETT E. VALE.
Scarlett stopped breathing.
Adrian stared at her.
“No.”
She shook her head violently.
“No. I never had a child.”
Vivian looked away.
May you like
And Catherine whispered:
“Then I suppose it's time somebody told Adrian what happened to his wife.”
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