PART 3: THE STERLING WEB
Sebastian locked Chloe’s bedroom door from the outside, leaving his unconscious wife on the floor.
He hid the key in his pocket. He had maybe twenty minutes before someone came looking for Elena.
He carried Chloe down the back servants' staircase, avoiding the main hall where the party was raging.
They reached the basement—a labyrinth of wine cellars and old storage rooms.
“Daddy, where are we going?” Chloe whispered, holding his hand tightly.
“There’s an old coal chute that leads to the gardens behind the hedge maze,” Sebastian said. “But we can’t just run. Your grandfather has connections with the state police. If we just drive away, he’ll have us picked up for kidnapping before we hit the state line.”
He needed leverage. He needed something that Arthur Sterling feared more than death.
He needed the Ledger.
Sebastian knew Arthur kept a private safe in his basement study—a room that was strictly off-limits to everyone.
Leaving Chloe hidden behind a stack of vintage wine crates, Sebastian crept toward the study.
The door was locked with a biometric scanner.
Sebastian smiled grimly. He pulled out his phone and opened an app he had developed for his cybersecurity firm—the very firm Arthur had funded.
He bypassed the security grid, the lock clicking open with a soft beep.
The study was dark, smelling of leather and old paper.
He found the safe behind a painting of the Sterling shipping fleet.
It took him ten agonizing minutes to crack the digital code using a brute-force decryption tool on his phone.
When the safe door swung open, Sebastian didn't find money.
He found folders. Dozens of them.
Labels with names of prominent judges, senators, and police chiefs.
Inside were photos, bank statements, and transcripts—blackmail material. Arthur Sterling didn't just rule the town through wealth; he ruled it through fear and extortion.
But at the very bottom of the safe was a small, black flash drive labeled: “C.M.”
Chloe Miller.
Sebastian plugged the drive into his phone. His heart stopped as the directory loaded.
It contained video files.
Before he could click on one, the heavy mahogany door of the study creaked open.
The lights snapped on, blinding him.
Standing in the doorway was Arthur Sterling, holding a glass of scotch in one hand, and a suppressed silver pistol in the other.
“You always were too smart for your own good, Sebastian,” Arthur said, his voice a deep, aristocratic rumble.
Behind him stood two of his massive security guards.
And next to them, leaning heavily on a guard’s arm with a bloody bandage wrapped around her head, was Elena.
Her eyes were filled with a murderous, vengeful rage.
“Where is my daughter, Sebastian?” Elena spat, a trickle of blood running down her temple.
May you like
Arthur raised the gun, pointing it directly at Sebastian’s chest.
“Give me the phone, son-in-law,” Arthur said calmly. “Or this beautiful house becomes your mausoleum.”
