Chapter 6 - The Sterling Wife
Marion Sterling arrived at the law office just before noon.
Nobody had invited her.
She entered wearing dark glasses and a cream coat.
Michael stood immediately.
Amanda went pale.
Willow remained seated.
Marion removed her glasses.
She looked exhausted.
“I assume Amanda played the recording.”
Willow’s jaw tightened.
“You knew?”
Marion closed the door behind her.
“I knew pieces.”
“That is not an answer.”
“I knew Richard arranged the acquisition.”
“You mean theft.”
Marion flinched.
Willow stood.
“Did you know he killed my mother?”
“No.”
The answer came quickly.
Too quickly.
Willow stepped closer.
“Did you suspect it?”
Marion’s eyes filled with something that might have been shame.
“Yes.”
The room went silent.
Michael’s hands curled into fists.
Marion looked at him.
“I was a coward.”
Michael’s voice was flat.
“My wife is dead.”
“I know.”
“My daughter grew up without her mother.”
“I know.”
“You raised your son inside the fortune you helped steal.”
Marion looked down.
“I know.”
Michael turned away before his anger became something worse.
Willow asked.
“Why are you here?”
Marion reached into her handbag.
She removed a small brass key.
“Because Richard is moving records from Sterling Tower.”
Amanda looked sharply at her.
“When?”
“Tonight.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Marion placed the key on the table.
“This opens his private archive room on forty-two.”
Lucas had told Willow that room contained old family records.
She had never been allowed inside.
Marion continued.
“Richard kept things he could not destroy.”
“Insurance.”
“Leverage.”
“Blackmail.”
Willow picked up the key.
“Why help us now?”
Marion looked at the bruise on Willow’s cheek.
“Because I watched my husband teach my son that cruelty was strength.”
Her voice trembled.
“And last night I watched Lucas prove he learned the lesson.”
Willow felt no sympathy.
Marion seemed to understand.
“I am not asking you to forgive me.”
“Good.”
“I am asking you to stop Richard.”
Willow closed her fingers around the key.
Michael shook his head.
“It could be a trap.”
“It probably is.”
Everyone turned toward Willow.
She looked at the documents covering the table.
Twenty-eight years of silence had protected her.
Now silence protected Richard.
She was finished giving him that advantage.
“We don’t break in.”
Amanda frowned.
“Then what?”
Willow picked up her phone.
“I’m still Mrs. Sterling.”
Her name was still listed on corporate security records.
Her face still opened the executive elevators.
May you like
Her marriage had given the Sterlings access to her life for five years.
Tonight she was going to use that same access against them.
