Chapter 5 - MARGARET'S PERFECT LIE
I found Margaret at the Sterling country club.
She was drinking tea as though nothing in the world had changed.
I placed the photograph in front of her.
She didn't touch it.
“You know what this means.”
Margaret looked at me.
“Yes.”
“Where is my father?”
She smiled sadly.
“He's dead.”
“Then explain this.”
“He was alive when the photograph was taken.”
My voice shook.
“Who took it?”
“Someone trying to manipulate you.”
“Who?”
Margaret finally picked up the photograph.
Her hands trembled.
Just once.
Then she put it down.
“Your father discovered the truth.”
“What truth?”
“That Julian was not Charles Sterling's son.”
I already knew.
“What does that have to do with my father?”
“Everything.”
Margaret leaned closer.
“Your father had an affair with my husband.”
I stared at her.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“You're right.”
She smiled.
“Because I chose the wrong word.”
My stomach dropped.
“Your father was not my husband's lover.”
She whispered:
“He was his brother.”
Silence.
My father's name was Thomas Ward.
Charles Sterling had always been introduced as an only child.
But they were brothers.
Half-brothers.
And Julian was the son of Charles's second wife.
Except the records had been falsified.
Julian's biological father was Thomas.
My father.
I couldn't breathe.
“What are you saying?”
Margaret looked at me.
“Julian is your half-brother.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“You're lying.”
“Ask yourself why your father left you controlling shares instead of leaving them to a son.”
I stared at her.
“Because he knew.”
Margaret nodded.
“He knew Julian would eventually come for everything.”
The twins suddenly made sense.
The fertility records.
The heir plan.
The attempt to force me out.
It wasn't simply about replacing me as Julian's wife.
They wanted to create a legal succession line.
But there was one problem.
If Julian and I shared the same father...
then our marriage had been built on a secret that could destroy the Sterling family.
I stood.
“You knew before I married him.”
“Yes.”
“And you let it happen?”
Margaret looked away.
“Your father begged me to stop it.”
“Why didn't you?”
She looked back at me.
“Because I wanted his empire.”
I felt tears in my eyes.
“You destroyed my life.”
“No.”
Margaret's expression hardened.
“Your father did.”
She pushed a final document toward me.
It was my birth certificate.
Except the father's name had been altered.
Thomas Ward was not listed.
Someone else was.
Charles Sterling.
I stared at the forged document.
Margaret whispered:
“Your entire identity was rewritten.”
Then the country club doors opened.
Federal agents walked inside.
“Margaret Sterling?”
She looked up.
“You're under arrest.”
Her face turned white.
“What for?”
May you like
The lead agent answered:
“For the murder of Thomas Ward.”
