Chapter 9 - The Final Betrayal
Three days later, the fallout of the Bellevue Gala had completely obliterated the Montgomery name.
I sat in the high-floor executive suite of Vance Tower, reviewing the final receiver reports. Montgomery Estate had been foreclosed on, and every piece of furniture, art, and jewelry Sterling had bought with stolen money was up for public auction.
The door to my office opened, and Julian walked in, holding a fresh legal document.
"Is it signed?" I asked without looking up.
"Yes, Miss Vance," Julian said. "Sterling signed the full surrender of parental rights from his holding cell. In exchange for dropping the personal civil suit against his mother, he surrendered everything."
I paused, setting my pen down. "His mother?"
"Eleanor Montgomery," Julian revealed, a slight smirk playing on his lips. "It turns out she knew who you were all along, Genevieve."
I raised an eyebrow. "Eleanor knew?"
"She discovered your real identity three years ago," Julian explained. "She kept it quiet from Sterling because she was using your covert trust dividends to pay off her own massive gambling debts in Macao. She actively encouraged Sterling to bring Victoria around, hoping you would leave quietly so she could claim the trust's secondary payout."
I let out a soft, sharp laugh. "Greed really is a sickness in that family."
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"What would you like to do with Eleanor?" Julian asked.
"Enforce the debt," I said simply. "Take her house, her jewels, and her pensions. Let her live in the world she tried to sentence my daughter to."
