Chapter 6 - The Woman Who Raised Her
The private conference room beneath the ballroom went silent when Catherine Sterling walked in.
Bianca stopped breathing.
For twenty years, society pages had described Catherine as deceased.
A memorial foundation carried her name.
Portraits of her hung inside Sterling properties.
Yet she stood in the doorway wearing a gray coat, her hair shorter and whiter than in the photographs.
Bianca whispered, “Mom?”
Catherine’s face crumpled.
“My baby.”
Bianca stepped back.
“Don’t.”
Catherine stopped.
“Please.”
“You’re dead.”
“No.”
“I went to your funeral.”
“I know.”
“You let me go to your funeral?”
Catherine closed her eyes.
Charles sat handcuffed at the far end of the room.
When Catherine looked at him, every trace of softness disappeared.
“You should have told her.”
Charles laughed bitterly.
“You don’t get to walk in here pretending you’re innocent.”
“I never said I was.”
Detective Reyes stood between them.
“Mrs. Sterling—”
“Catherine Hart,” she corrected.
Bianca flinched.
Catherine saw it.
“I kept Sterling publicly for years. I stopped using it privately a long time ago.”
Bianca stared at her.
“Start talking.”
Catherine nodded.
“Rebecca Hart was my younger sister.”
Bianca’s face emptied.
Elena quietly sat beside her.
Bianca noticed.
For a moment, pride told her to move.
She didn’t.
Catherine continued.
“Rebecca was brilliant. Too trusting, but brilliant.”
Charles scoffed.
Catherine ignored him.
“She became the financial controller for Sterling Events before it was Sterling Events.”
Adrian leaned forward.
“What was it called?”
“Hart Hospitality.”
Bianca’s head jerked up.
Catherine nodded.
“Our father started it.”
Adrian whispered, “So the company was yours.”
“Rebecca and I inherited controlling ownership.”
Charles said, “That is not what happened.”
Catherine looked at him.
“You forged our signatures.”
Silence.
Charles leaned back.
“You signed.”
“Not the documents you filed.”
Detective Reyes made a note.
Catherine continued.
“Rebecca discovered the transfer first. She planned to expose him.”
Bianca whispered, “Then she died.”
Catherine’s eyes filled with tears.
“Yes.”
“Was it an accident?”
Catherine didn’t answer.
Bianca stood.
“Was it?”
“I don’t know.”
Charles laughed.
Everyone turned.
“That’s the truth, Catherine?”
She stared at him.
“I know you threatened her.”
“I threatened to sue her.”
“You followed her.”
“I drove home.”
“You had her car serviced two days before the crash.”
Charles stopped smiling.
Reyes leaned forward.
“Excuse me?”
Catherine pulled a folder from her bag.
“I kept records.”
Charles’s face tightened.
“You stole company files.”
“I stole nothing.”
She looked at Bianca.
“Rebecca gave them to me the day before she died.”
Bianca’s voice cracked.
“Why didn’t you go to police?”
“I did.”
“And?”
“There wasn’t enough.”
“So you stayed married to him?”
Shame crossed Catherine’s face.
“Yes.”
Bianca laughed once.
A broken sound.
“Unbelievable.”
“I thought I could protect you.”
“You protected him.”
“No.”
“You let me believe my real mother was dead without even knowing her name.”
Catherine began crying.
“I was afraid he’d take you.”
“He did take me!”
That silenced everyone.
Bianca pointed at Charles.
“He took my mother. He took her company. Then you helped him erase her.”
Catherine had no answer.
Bianca turned away.
Elena watched her shoulders shake.
Then Catherine looked at Elena.
“I’m the one who sent the drive to Adrian’s office.”
“Why now?” Elena asked.
“Because Charles started moving money overseas.”
Adrian frowned.
“How much?”
“Over eighteen million dollars.”
Charles muttered, “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Catherine continued.
“The charity funds are only part of it.”
Reyes asked, “What else?”
“Employee pension accounts.”
Marissa gasped.
“And,” Catherine said, “money from a trust Rebecca created for Bianca.”
Bianca turned slowly.
“A trust?”
Catherine nodded.
“How much?”
“At the time?”
She swallowed.
“About six million.”
“And now?”
“With the assets that should have remained inside it?”
Catherine looked at Charles.
“More than forty.”
Bianca stared at her father.
“You stole forty million dollars from me?”
Charles snapped.
“I built everything you have!”
“With her money?”
“I gave you a life people would kill for!”
Bianca stepped toward him.
“And you still couldn’t tell me my mother’s name.”
Charles stared at her.
Then he smiled.
A strange, ugly smile.
“You want the truth?”
Catherine whispered, “Charles, don’t.”
Bianca turned.
“What?”
Charles leaned forward.
“Rebecca wasn’t just planning to expose the company fraud.”
Catherine’s face went white.
“Stop.”
Charles looked directly at Bianca.
“She was planning to leave New York.”
Bianca swallowed.
“With me?”
Charles smiled.
“No.”
Catherine lunged toward him.
Reyes caught her.
“Catherine!”
Bianca stared at Charles.
“What are you saying?”
Charles’s smile widened.
“Rebecca wasn’t taking you anywhere.”
Bianca whispered, “Why?”
May you like
Charles leaned closer.
“Because you weren’t her daughter either.”
