Chapter 7 - THE FAMILY’S TRUE HEIR
Daniel was released from questioning but ordered not to leave the city.
He returned to the hospital under police supervision.
Emma showed him the notebook and the photographs.
Daniel looked genuinely shocked.
“I knew nothing about this.”
“You knew they wanted control over the baby.”
“I thought it was about the shares.”
“Your mother said they would decide what was best after the birth.”
Daniel sat beside the wall.
“My father talked about the child as the future of the family.”
Emma watched him.
“What did he mean?”
“He said our baby would become the true Sterling heir.”
“But your sister has children.”
“Vivian’s sons cannot inherit voting control under my grandfather’s trust.”
Daniel explained that the family trust required the next controlling heir to be a direct descendant of Charles’s eldest son.
Daniel was that son.
His child would eventually receive a large portion of the company.
Emma’s shares made the unborn baby even more powerful.
“If something happened to me,” Emma said, “you would control my shares as the surviving parent.”
Daniel’s eyes filled with shame.
“I never wanted anything to happen to you.”
“But your father did.”
“I don’t know.”
“You keep saying that.”
Emma’s voice broke.
“You knew enough to protect yourself and not enough to protect me.”
Daniel lowered his head.
Detective Reed entered before he could answer.
Gordon Pike had been found alive.
A fisherman discovered him near an abandoned road outside the city.
He had been injured and left unconscious, but doctors expected him to recover.
Gordon identified the man who attacked him.
Thomas Vale, the Sterling pilot.
Police arrested Thomas while he attempted to cross the Canadian border.
During interrogation, Thomas admitted attacking Gordon.
He claimed Charles Sterling ordered him to retrieve the financial files.
“Did Charles order him to kill Gordon?” Emma asked.
“Thomas says no.”
“You don’t believe him.”
“I believe he is trying to reduce his sentence.”
Thomas also confessed that he removed the mansion’s security drive after Vivian called him.
However, he did not destroy it.
He hid it inside the family’s private plane, hoping to use the footage as leverage against Charles.
Police recovered the drive.
The video clearly showed Vivian shoving Emma.
It also showed Margaret directing a staff member to delay calling an ambulance.
But the most damaging recording came from Charles’s private office.
The office camera had been installed secretly by Gordon.
Three days before Emma’s fall, Charles met with Vivian, Margaret, and Daniel.
Daniel appeared in the room for only part of the conversation.
The recording began with Charles speaking.
“Emma signs before Friday.”
Vivian asked, “And if she refuses?”
Charles answered without emotion.
“Then the accident happens before the child is born.”
Emma stopped the video.
Daniel stared at the floor.
“You heard him,” she said.
“I thought he meant a public scandal.”
“He used the word accident.”
“He always speaks in threats.”
“And you walked away.”
Daniel stood suddenly.
“I confronted him afterward.”
“Did you warn me?”
“No.”
“Did you take me away from the mansion?”
“No.”
“Then you chose him.”
Daniel’s face crumpled.
“I was afraid.”
“So was I.”
Emma looked at Detective Reed.
“Play the rest.”
The video continued.
After Daniel left, Margaret approached Charles.
“You promised the girl would not be harmed,” she said.
Charles replied, “Emma is not the priority.”
“The baby may not survive a fall.”
“Then we try again.”
Vivian shifted uncomfortably.
“What does that mean?”
Charles opened a safe and removed an old medical file.
“Subject Seventeen survived treatment,” he said.
“Her child may carry the same genetic resistance.”
Margaret whispered, “You want to restart Project Eve.”
May you like
Charles smiled.
“I never stopped.”
