Chapter 20: Face to Face
The penthouse was a cavernous, opulent office, bathed in the glow of a roaring fireplace.
In the center of the room, hooked up to a state-of-the-art mobile heart monitor and an IV drip, sat a plush medical recliner. Emily let out a strangled sob.
“Mom!” she screamed, running out from behind Daniel.
Claire Thorne was unconscious, her face pale, but the steady beep of the monitor confirmed she was alive. Emily dropped to her knees beside the chair, clutching her mother’s frail, cold hand, weeping with relief.
“She’s quite heavily sedated, I’m afraid. The flight was taxing on her heart.”
The voice came from the shadows near the fireplace.
Daniel froze. The gun in his hand felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. He recognized that voice. He had heard it in his dreams every night for ten years.
A figure stepped out of the shadows, the firelight catching his features.
He looked older, his hair silver, leaning heavily on a gold-tipped cane. But the piercing, ice-blue eyes and the sharp, aristocratic jawline were identical to the man standing across from him.
Richard Sterling.
“Hello, Daniel,” Richard said softly, a twisted, paternal smile on his lips. “You’ve grown into quite the formidable CEO. I’m proud of you.”
Daniel raised his gun, aiming it squarely at his father’s chest. His hands, usually so steady, were shaking violently.
“You son of a bitch,” Daniel whispered, tears of pure rage burning his eyes. “I buried an empty box! I mourned you! Mom drank herself to death because she thought she drove you to suicide!”
Richard’s smile faltered slightly, a flash of genuine regret crossing his eyes before the ruthless Syndicate boss returned. “Casualties of war, Daniel. The feds were closing in. If I stayed, the government would have seized Sterling Enterprises, and you would have been left with nothing. I left you an empire.”
“You left me a lie!” Daniel roared, his finger tightening on the trigger.
“And I see you’ve allied yourself with Arthur’s little girl,” Richard continued, gesturing toward Emily, who was glaring at him with pure hatred. “Arthur was weak. He let sentimentality ruin him. I brought her mother here to make a trade, Daniel.”
“I’m not trading anything with a ghost,” Daniel spat.
“You will,” Richard said smoothly. “Because you don't have a choice. I want the ledger Arthur gave you. Hand it over, and you can take the girl and her mother back to Los Angeles. We pretend this never happened. You keep your clean, corporate empire, and I keep mine.”
“And if I refuse?” Daniel asked, his voice dropping to a lethal whisper.
Richard sighed, tapping his cane on the hardwood floor.
May you like
From the shadows, five laser sights clicked on, painting red dots across Daniel’s chest and Emily’s forehead. Snipers were positioned on the surrounding rooftops, aiming straight through the penthouse windows.
“If you refuse, my boy,” Richard said coldly, “I will show you exactly why I’m the one who survived all these years. The ledger, Daniel. Now.”
