Chapter 4 - THE FIRST CRACK IN THE EMPIRE
Michael insisted they make three encrypted copies of the Project Orion files.
One went to Bennett.
One went to an investigative accounting firm.
The third went into a safe-deposit box under Helena's name.
By noon, the Sterling family knew something had changed.
Sterling Consolidated stock dropped eight percent after rumors of financial irregularities began circulating.
Richard called an emergency board meeting.
Lucas called Willow seventeen times.
She answered none.
At two fifteen, someone knocked on the gallery door.
Helena looked through the glass.
"You have got to be kidding me."
Lucas stood outside.
Willow walked toward him.
Michael moved to stop her.
"I need to do this."
Michael nodded reluctantly.
Helena unlocked the door.
Lucas entered alone.
He looked exhausted.
His perfect hair was uncombed.
His navy suit was wrinkled.
His eyes immediately found Willow's bruised cheek.
For half a second, shame appeared on his face.
"I'm sorry."
Willow waited.
Lucas stepped closer.
"I mean it."
"Do you?"
"Yes."
"Then why did your PR team say we both regretted what happened?"
Lucas looked away.
"That wasn't my wording."
"But you approved it."
Silence.
Willow folded her arms.
"What do you want?"
"I want my wife back."
"You should have thought about that before you hit her."
Michael's voice came from behind them.
Lucas glared at him.
"This doesn't concern you."
"It concerned me the second your hand touched my daughter."
Lucas turned back to Willow.
"My father thinks Michael is manipulating you."
Willow laughed softly.
"Your father thinks everyone is manipulating everyone because that's how he lives."
Lucas's expression hardened.
"Something happened this morning."
"What?"
"Someone triggered an audit against Sterling Consolidated."
Willow kept her face still.
Lucas watched her.
"Do you know anything about that?"
"No."
It was technically true.
Michael had started the audit before explaining it.
Lucas stepped closer.
"Willow."
"Don't."
He stopped.
"I need you to understand something."
"The company supports thirty thousand employees."
"If Sterling falls, innocent people get hurt."
Willow stared at him.
"Interesting."
"What?"
"Yesterday, when your father insulted my family, you told me family loyalty mattered more than right and wrong."
"Today you're hiding behind employees."
Lucas's jaw tightened.
"This is bigger than our marriage."
"Then why are you here?"
He had no answer.
Willow looked at him carefully.
"Did you authorize an eighty-seven-million-dollar transfer through shell companies?"
Lucas went still.
Michael watched him.
The silence was enough.
Willow felt something inside her break again.
"You did."
Lucas lowered his voice.
"You don't understand those transactions."
"Explain them."
"I can't."
"Or won't?"
"Willow."
"Where did the money go?"
Lucas looked toward Michael.
"Not in front of him."
Michael smiled without humor.
"You slapped her in front of six hundred strangers, but financial fraud requires privacy?"
Lucas lunged forward.
Willow stepped between them.
"Enough."
Lucas stopped.
She looked directly at him.
"Did you know your father stole my family's company?"
Lucas blinked.
"What?"
"Donovan-Sterling Industrial Holdings."
The color drained from his face.
That answered another question.
"You knew."
"I knew there was an old dispute."
"Dispute?"
Willow's voice rose.
"My grandfather's trust still owns voting shares."
Lucas looked toward the door.
"Who told you?"
"My father."
"Michael doesn't know what he's talking about."
Michael disappeared into the office.
He returned with a photocopy.
Lucas read it.
His expression changed.
Michael said, "Your father filed that document in 2007."
Lucas looked up.
"He acknowledged the trust."
Michael nodded.
"Then eighteen months later he represented to a bank that Sterling Holdings had no outside beneficial owners."
Lucas stared at the page.
"That's impossible."
"Is it?"
Lucas looked genuinely shaken.
For the first time, Willow wondered how much he actually knew.
Then his phone rang.
Richard.
Lucas declined the call.
Willow noticed.
"You're afraid of him."
Lucas looked at her.
"No."
"You are."
"He's my father."
"That's not an answer."
Lucas shoved the document back at Michael.
"You have no idea what you're starting."
Michael's voice remained calm.
"No, Lucas."
"I know exactly what I'm finishing."
Lucas turned toward Willow.
"Come home."
"No."
"Please."
It was the first time she had ever heard Lucas Sterling beg.
For one dangerous second, she remembered the man she had fallen in love with.
The man who had brought coffee to her gallery at midnight.
The man who had proposed beside Lake Michigan without photographers or champagne.
Maybe that man had been real.
Maybe he had simply been too weak to survive his family.
Willow shook her head.
"I can't."
Lucas looked devastated.
Then his expression changed.
"Fine."
He walked toward the door.
Before leaving, he looked at Michael.
"If you go after my father, he'll come after you."
Michael nodded.
"I've been waiting thirty-two years."
Lucas left.
Five minutes later, Bennett called.
Michael put the phone on speaker.
"We have a problem."
"What?"
"The Sterling board just filed an emergency petition."
Willow frowned.
"For what?"
Bennett answered.
"To have the Donovan family trust declared invalid."
Michael's eyes narrowed.
"On what grounds?"
"Forgery."
Silence.
Then Bennett continued.
"And Richard claims he has the original documents proving it."
Michael slowly smiled.
"Good."
Willow stared at him.
"Good?"
Michael looked at his daughter.
"Because the original documents aren't with Richard."
"Where are they?"
May you like
Michael's smile disappeared.
"Your mother hid them."
