Chapter 8 - THE LEDGER OF BLOOD
We returned to the hospital after midnight.
The building was nearly empty.
Damon's security team checked every hallway.
I walked beside him.
“Where would my father hide something?”
“Somewhere nobody would search.”
We reached the old maternity wing.
It had been closed for renovations for years.
My father had died in this hospital.
The realization made my stomach twist.
Damon stopped outside a storage room.
“This was where your father was treated.”
I looked at the door.
“He was conscious?”
“For a few minutes.”
“What did he say?”
Damon hesitated.
“He told me something.”
“What?”
“He said, ‘If Clara ever comes here, tell her I never betrayed her.’”
My eyes filled with tears.
I opened the door.
Inside were broken cabinets and old equipment.
Then I saw it.
A loose floor tile.
Damon removed it.
Beneath it was a metal box.
Inside was a leather ledger.
My father's handwriting covered the first page.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
Deaths.
Judges.
Police commanders.
Senators.
Business leaders.
Everything.
The Sterling family had been involved in crimes spanning decades.
But one name appeared more often than any other.
Victor Sterling.
Julian's father.
Then I saw another name.
Evelyn Voss.
My mother.
I closed my eyes.
There was one final page.
A handwritten note.
If Clara finds this, tell her the truth about Julian.
I stared.
“What truth?”
Damon turned the page.
There was a birth certificate.
Julian Sterling was not Victor Sterling's biological son.
His real father was unknown.
Then another document.
A DNA report.
I read it twice.
My hands went cold.
Julian was connected to the Voss family.
He was my distant cousin.
The marriage had been deliberately arranged within the family.
I stepped backward.
“Oh my God.”
Damon caught me.
“They wanted the inheritance to remain within the bloodline.”
I couldn't breathe.
“They knew.”
“Yes.”
“Everyone knew.”
“Not your father.”
I looked at the ledger.
Then another photograph slipped out.
It showed Julian as a child.
Standing beside Victor.
And beside them was my mother.
On the back were three words:
THE HEIR PROJECT.
My blood ran cold.
“What is this?”
Damon's face hardened.
“I don't know.”
A noise came from the hallway.
We both turned.
Someone was outside.
Damon raised his weapon.
The door opened.
My mother stood there.
Alone.
“Clara.”
I stared at her.
“You knew about Julian's bloodline.”
She began crying.
“Yes.”
“You knew he was related to me.”
“Yes.”
“And you still pushed me toward him.”
“I was trying to save you.”
“You don't get to say that anymore.”
She looked at the ledger.
“Your father discovered the project.”
“What project?”
My mother swallowed.
“The Sterlings weren't interested in your inheritance alone.”
I stared.
“What else did they want?”
She whispered:
“Your child.”
I tightened my arms around Lily.
“Why?”
“Because an heir born from both families would give them legal control over the remaining Voss assets.”
Damon's face darkened.
My mother continued.
“But there was one thing they didn't know.”
“What?”
She looked directly at me.
“Your father changed the trust before he died.”
“How?”
“He made Lily the final beneficiary.”
I froze.
“What?”
My mother nodded.
“The entire inheritance belongs to your daughter.”
A long silence followed.
Then the lights went out.
Damon immediately pulled me close.
A voice echoed through the darkness.
“You should have left the ledger where you found it.”
May you like
I recognized it.
Julian.
