Chapter 10
The flickering security lights cast long, distorted shadows across the courtyard as Marcus stepped forward, his eyes locked on the heavy wrought-iron gate leading to the rear gardens. Maya stood her ground just behind him, her hand slipping into the pocket of her hoodie where she kept her phone dialed to emergency services.
Out of the gloom stepped a solitary figure, drenched in the damp evening mist. It wasn't an assassin or a hired goon, but Richard Sterling himself. His expensive black suit was rumpled, his tie loosened, and his hair disheveled. He looked years older than the man who had roared demands in the banquet hall just days ago, his face pale and haggard.
"Marcus. Leave us," Richard commanded, attempting to summon his old corporate authority, though his voice lacked any real power.
Marcus didn't move an inch, his posture remaining defensively rigid. "Mr. Sterling, you are in violation of a court-mandated restraining order keeping you five hundred feet away from this property and its residents."
Richard ignored the security chief entirely, fixing his desperate, bloodshot eyes on Maya. "Listen to me, Lily. You are destroying everything your grandfather spent his entire life building. The federal investigators are tearing apart divisions that employ thousands of innocent people. Families will lose their livelihoods because of your selfish crusade."
Maya stepped out from behind Marcus, her voice steady and unyielding. "Don't you dare talk about innocent families, Richard. You stole mine before I drew my first breath. You covered up corruption, ruined lives, and thought you were untouchable because of a bank account."
"I protected this company!" Richard shouted, his voice cracking with rising hysteria. "You don't understand the compromises required to keep an empire afloat in a ruthless world. Your father was a dreamer who would have driven us into bankruptcy within a year."
"My father was an honest man," Maya countered fiercely. "And you murdered his reputation just like you tried to erase mine."
Richard took a stumbling step forward, his hands trembling as he reached out in a pathetic gesture of pleading. "Drop the federal charges. Sign over your voting proxy to the board. We can settle this quietly offshore. You can have whatever you want—money, houses, Europe—just walk away from the wreckage."
"I'm not walking away," Maya said, her gaze unwavering. "The wreckage is yours to clean up, Richard. My music and my history aren't for sale."
Before Richard could respond, the wail of approaching sirens echoed through the night air from the main road outside the estate gates. Marcus’s radio crackled to life with the sound of local police dispatchers confirming a trespasser alarm at the Sterling perimeter.
May you like
Richard froze, realizing his time had run out. He stared at Maya with a look of pure, unadulterated hatred before turning and disappearing back into the dark shadows of the garden.
***
