Chapter 1 - THE CASE VICTORIA TRIED TO CRUSH
Victoria Sterling ripped the deep-burgundy document case from beside Leo’s bassinet and slammed it onto the marble floor.
“Your baby gets our name—not our fortune.”
Avery flinched.
Leo slept through it, wrapped safely in ivory beneath the chandelier light of the Sterling family’s Hamptons ballroom.
Dozens of relatives and foundation donors were still circulating beyond the open doors.
Close enough to hear.
Close enough to watch Victoria humiliate her new daughter-in-law without pretending it was accidental.
Victoria planted one diamond heel on the case.
“Know your place, sweetheart.”
Avery reached down.
Victoria pressed harder.
Liam stood beside them in his charcoal tuxedo.
Tense.
Silent.
That silence hurt more than Victoria’s words.
Avery looked at her husband.
“You’re really going to let her do this?”
Liam’s jaw tightened.
“Not here.”
Victoria smiled.
That was apparently answer enough.
Avery seized the case and pulled.
The brass clasp snapped open.
“Avery—don’t.”
Liam’s voice changed.
Not angry.
Afraid.
A folded cream document slid halfway onto the marble.
Avery saw the old Sterling family seal.
Then a photograph.
Victoria at perhaps twenty-five.
Young.
Pregnant.
Standing beside a man Avery did not recognize.
Victoria lunged.
Avery pulled the paper against her chest.
“Why is your picture in Leo’s file?”
Liam turned pale.
Another sheet slipped from the case.
Victoria whispered, “Liam… if she reads that, we lose everything.”
Avery lowered her eyes.
Only one signature was exposed.
The surname was Sterling.
The first name remained hidden beneath the fold.
But Avery noticed the date.
May you like
Thirty-five years earlier.
The year Liam was born.
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