Chapter 13 - Midnight Council
The penthouse office of Sterling Horizon was completely dark except for the panoramic glow of the city lights pouring through the glass walls. It was nearly two in the morning.
On the massive quartz conference table lay files, laptops, and stacks of audited balance sheets going back five years.
Across from me sat Elise, wearing an oversized knit sweater over the formal dress she hadn’t had time to change out of after the gala. Her eyes were red, but the trembling uncertainty that had defined her for years was gone. Beside her sat Marcus, my chief legal counsel, a silver-haired litigator who had guided my company through every storm since our first round of seed funding.
Julian stood near the espresso machine, an uneasy outsider in a room where every person had earned their seat through loyalty.
“It’s legitimate,” Marcus said, tossing his reading glasses onto the table with a dull thud. “The signature on the 2022 lien is a masterclass in forgery. Richard used an old power-of-attorney clause you signed when you had your appendectomy in college. He amended the annex with a fraudulent corporate addendum.”
“Can he enforce it?” Elise asked, her voice shaking with quiet indignation. “Can he really take her company?”
“In a court of law? Eventually, no,” Marcus replied. “A forensic document examiner will tear it to shreds in six months. But in the court of public opinion? On Wall Street? Absolutely. If he files this complaint at nine o’clock tomorrow morning and the *Financial Chronicle* runs the headline that Maya’s intellectual property is tied up in a multi-million-dollar ownership dispute, her Series C funding round will freeze instantly. Our institutional investors will pull out. The valuation could drop forty percent by noon.”
I leaned back in my leather chair, staring at the ceiling. The exhaustion was heavy, settling deep into my bones, but my mind was operating with crystalline clarity.
For years, I had reacted to my father. When he demanded money, I negotiated. When he insulted me, I endured. When he told everyone I brought bad energy to Elise’s wedding, I finally snapped and cut the purse strings. But cutting him off wasn't enough. Richard Sterling didn't stop because you took away his allowance; he was a cornered wolf, and he would tear down the entire forest just to see me burn with him.
“He isn't acting alone,” I said softly.
The room went quiet.
Elise looked at me, puzzled. “What do you mean, Maya? Dad’s bankrupt. Who else would help him?”
“Arthur Vance’s old partners,” I said, looking directly at Julian. “Your firm survived, didn't it, Julian? Who bought the distressed debt on that four-million-dollar loan when my father’s shell company went under?”
Julian swallowed hard, shifting his weight. “Vance Capital was restructured under an umbrella entity called Apex Holdings. But I don't control the legacy debt portfolio. Derek Coleman does.”
“Derek Coleman,” Marcus spat the name like venom. “Richard’s old fraternity brother and a ruthless corporate raider. If Coleman is holding that note, he’s the one financing Richard’s legal blitz. Richard doesn't have fifty grand for a top-tier retainer right now. Coleman does.”
“Derek Coleman doesn't give a damn about my father,” I reasoned, leaning forward and resting my forearms on the cool quartz. “Coleman wants my company’s data infrastructure. He’s using my father as a battering ram to tank our stock price so Apex can sweep in with a predatory buyout offer tomorrow afternoon.”
“It’s a squeeze play,” Marcus agreed, his eyes narrowing. “Classic, brutal, and completely devastating if we’re playing defense.”
“Then we don't play defense,” I said.
Elise leaned in, her eyes wide. “Maya, what are you going to do?”
“Elise, where is Mom tonight?” I asked.
A shadow crossed Elise’s face. “She’s at the estate. Or what’s left of it. Dad sent the housekeeper home yesterday. When I called her from the gala, she was crying in the dark. She said Dad had been drinking since noon, throwing boxes into the fireplace, screaming that everyone in this family betrayed him.”
“Mom stayed silent at the dinner table,” I said, remembering the pre-wedding dinner, the way Eleanor had kept her eyes glued to her plate while Richard called me an outcast. “She stayed silent when he took my wedding down. But she knows where the bodies are buried, Elise. She kept the books for his personal accounts for thirty-four years.”
“She’s terrified of him,” Elise whispered. “He’s spent thirty years convincing her she has nowhere else to go.”
“Then we’re going to give her somewhere to go,” I said, standing up and grabbing my trench coat from the back of the chair. “Julian, you’re coming with us. Marcus, wake up the forensic accounting team and have them draft a countersuit for corporate espionage, wire fraud, and grand larceny under the RICO statute. We have five hours before the sun comes up.”
“Where are we going?” Julian asked, his voice tense.
May you like
I slipped my arms into the coat and buttoned it up. “We’re going to pay my mother a visit. It’s time to see if Eleanor Sterling wants to go to prison with her husband, or if she finally wants to be free.”
***
