Chapter 2 - The Viper in the House
By the next morning, Julian was stabilized. He was sleeping peacefully in the massive hospital bed, hooked up to an IV of premium antibiotics. Leo was asleep on the sofa next to him, wrapped in a heated blanket.
I left my private security outside their door and ordered my driver to take me to the Sterling Holdings corporate tower.
I didn't go to my office. I went straight to Robert’s.
Robert was sitting behind his glass desk, sipping espresso and reviewing quarterly reports. He looked up, flashing a slick, practiced smile. "Arthur! I thought you canceled your gala last night. Everything alright?"
I locked the heavy oak door behind me.
"Where are they, Robert?" my voice was dangerously calm.
"Where are what?" he chuckled nervously, standing up.
"My son's letters."
All the blood drained from Robert's face. The slick smile vanished. He tried to compose himself, adjusting his expensive Italian tie. "Arthur, I have no idea what you are talking about. Julian hasn't spoken to us in fifteen years."
"Julian is currently in my private hospital suite," I said, stepping closer to his desk. "And my grandson told me that his father sent me a letter every single year. Letters you told him I returned."
Robert backed up against the floor-to-ceiling window. He had spent the last fifteen years poisoning my mind against Julian, telling me my son hated me, while simultaneously telling Julian I had disowned him. He did it to ensure he was the only remaining heir to the Sterling empire.
"Arthur, listen," Robert stammered. "Julian was unstable! He broke your heart! I was protecting you! I was protecting the company!"
"You were protecting your inheritance," I sneered.
May you like
I picked up the heavy brass paperweight on his desk and slammed it down, shattering the glass surface. Robert flinched, terrified.
"Pack your things," I whispered, my eyes burning with a decades' worth of stolen time. "You are officially terminated. And if you ever come within a hundred feet of my son or my grandson, I will use every dollar of my fortune to ensure you spend the rest of your life in a concrete cell."
