Chapter 16 - THE LAST BANQUET OF VICTORIA STERLINGThe ruined ballroom smelled of dust and ocean water.
Maya entered through the center doors.
Victoria stood beneath the broken chandelier.
Leah sat in a chair near the fireplace.
Senator Hale remained beside the windows.
A gun lay in Victoria’s hand.
The red ledger rested on a table.
For a moment, the scene resembled the Sterling banquet.
Victoria in the center.
Maya beneath everyone’s eyes.
Her mother’s life being used as entertainment.
But Maya was no longer the woman who lowered her head.
“Show me the medal,” Victoria ordered.
Maya raised it.
Leah looked toward her daughter.
“Do not give it to her.”
Victoria pressed the gun against Leah’s temple.
“Your mother has already lost twenty-four years.”
“Do not make her lose the rest.”
Maya placed the medal on the floor.
She kicked it forward.
It stopped halfway between them.
Victoria smiled.
“Still obedient when properly motivated.”
Maya looked around the ballroom.
“You built your power by convincing everyone they were alone.”
“Ethan believed he was alone.”
“My mother believed she was alone.”
“I believed no one would defend me.”
Victoria stepped toward the medal.
“Power belongs to the person willing to act while others speak.”
She bent down.
Maya noticed Marcus’s reflection in a broken mirror near the balcony.
Ortiz’s team had entered through the upper floor.
Maya needed to keep Victoria talking.
“Why leave me alive?” Maya asked.
Victoria straightened.
“You escaped before Gerald reached the trees.”
“You could have found me later.”
“I did.”
Maya’s body went cold.
“What?”
“I located you three days after the accident.”
Leah stared at Victoria.
Victoria continued calmly.
“You were inside a county hospital.”
“You kept screaming your name.”
“I paid an orderly to remove the identification bracelet.”
“The police listed you as an unidentified child.”
“Why not kill me?”
“Because dead children create investigations.”
“Abandoned children disappear into paperwork.”
Maya felt tears burn her eyes.
Victoria had chosen the children’s home.
She had erased the records.
She had watched Maya grow up without answers.
“You knew where I was every day.”
“Yes.”
“And when I wore the medal at the charity auction, you panicked.”
“I needed to know whether Gabriel had hidden anything inside it.”
“So you sent Ethan.”
“He was supposed to gain your trust.”
“He was not supposed to fall in love.”
Leah’s eyes closed in pain.
Victoria looked toward the upper balcony.
She had seen movement.
“Come out, Colonel.”
Marcus stepped into view.
Agent Ortiz remained hidden.
Victoria grabbed the medal.
“Tell your agents to leave.”
Marcus looked toward Maya.
Maya gave the smallest shake of her head.
Victoria pressed the center of the medal.
The archive code emerged.
Her triumph lasted one second.
Then she saw the numbers.
“They are incomplete.”
Maya understood.
Gabriel had divided the authorization.
One half remained inside the medal.
The other half required Maya’s living biometric signature.
Victoria could never access the trust without her.
“You need me,” Maya said.
Victoria aimed the gun at her.
“I only need your hand.”
Leah rose from the chair.
Despite years of weakness, she threw herself against Victoria.
The gun fired.
The chandelier above them shook.
Leah fell.
Maya lunged forward.
Victoria struck her with the gun.
Marcus ran from the balcony.
Senator Hale reached for the red ledger.
Agent Ortiz entered and ordered everyone to freeze.
Victoria grabbed Maya and dragged her toward the tunnel entrance.
The gun pressed against Maya’s throat.
“Follow us, and she dies.”
May you like
Victoria pulled Maya into the darkness.
The steel tunnel door slammed shut behind them.
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