Chapter 5 - Bloodlines and Hidden Bank Accounts
The dining room descended into absolute chaos.
Maria rushed in from the kitchen, immediately scooping Fiona up into her arms and hurrying her upstairs out of harm's way, just as I had instructed. Jessi was on her knees, sobbing hysterically, clutching the photographs of her supposedly dead fiancé as if they were burning her hands.
Wendy stood frozen against the sideboard, her face pale as chalk, realizing her eight-year deception had been completely stripped bare.
"Jessi, listen to me!" Wendy pleaded, her voice frantic, dropping all pretense of dignity. "Everything I did, I did to save our family! Arthur left us with nothing! He died bankrupt! He made bad investments in offshore oil, and the creditors were coming to take everything! Julian was the only way out!"
"You lied to me!" Jessi screamed, her voice cracking with agony as she dragged herself up using the edge of the table. "I spent a year in a psychiatric facility! I tried to end my life because I thought Julian was dead! I blamed myself for that boat trip! And you... you knew the whole time?!"
"Julian had to disappear!" Wendy yelled back, completely unhinged. "He had twenty million dollars in illegal gambling debts to international syndicates! If he didn't fake that yacht explosion, they were going to slaughter him and our entire family! We staged it with his trust lawyers! We had to wait until the statute of limitations expired and his father’s ninety-million-dollar dynasty fund was ripe for collection!"
I walked around the table until I stood inches from Wendy. The sheer aura of fury radiating from me made the older woman shrink backward against the wall.
"And where does Fiona fit into this disgusting scheme, Wendy?" I asked, my voice dangerously low. "Why were you taking my daughter to that safe house?"
Wendy let out a cruel, desperate laugh. "Your daughter? You really think you're untouchable, don't you, David? You think just because you have billions in tech equity you own the world?"
Jessi froze, looking at her mother with wide, horrified eyes. "Mom... what are you saying?"
"Tell him, Jessi!" Wendy sneered, pointing a trembling, venomous finger at her daughter. "Tell him what happened two weeks before you met him at that charity gala! Tell him who you spent that weekend with in the Hamptons when Julian secretly contacted you from the shadows!"
Jessi’s breath hitched in her throat. She looked at me, her eyes brimming with pure terror and shame. "David... no... it's not what she's making it sound like..."
"Explain it to me, Jessi," I said, my voice tight, fighting with everything in my soul to keep my composure. "Right now."
"Julian reached out to me eight years ago through a burner phone," Jessi wept, tears streaming down her face. "He told me he was alive and in hiding. He begged me to meet him one last time to say goodbye before he fled the country forever. I met him at a diner... we talked for twenty minutes. He tried to touch me, he tried to kiss me, but I ran away! I realized he was a monster who abandoned me! Two weeks later, I met you, David. I fell in love with you. I never saw him again! I swear on my life, Fiona is your daughter!"
"She's lying to you, David!" Wendy spat. "The timing is identical! Julian’s lawyers already have the medical records filed in probate court! We filed a motion for an emergency paternity challenge this morning! Once the judge sees the DNA petition, Fiona will be legally declared Julian's sole heir. The court will grant temporary custody to me as the maternal grandmother, and you will never see that little girl again!"
"You miserable parasite," I growled, stepping directly into Wendy’s face. "You sold out your own daughter's sanity, and now you're trying to sell my child for a trust fund cut."
"I am securing her future!" Wendy screamed. "Ninety million dollars! Do you think I'm going to let you raise her on your bourgeois tech money when she has Sterling aristocracy in her veins?!"
Before Wendy could utter another word, the front doors of the estate swung open with a deafening bang.
Marcus Cole strode into the foyer, flanked by two armed Connecticut State Police captains and an agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
"Wendy Vance," the FBI agent announced, pulling a federal warrant from his jacket. "You are under arrest for interstate wire fraud, conspiracy to commit extortion, child endangerment, and obstruction of justice in connection with the fraudulent death declaration of Julian Sterling."
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Wendy's face completely collapsed. "What?! You can't arrest me! This is a family matter!"
"It became a federal matter the second you wired two hundred and fifty thousand dollars through Swiss shell companies to harbor a wanted fugitive," Marcus said calmly, stepping forward with a pair of steel handcuffs. "Hands behind your back, Wendy. Right now."
