Chapter 1 - The Scattered Files
The heavy oak door of the corner executive office slammed against the drywall with a deafening, thunderous bang. The violent draft caused several white papers to flutter right off the long mahogany conference table. Grayson stepped inside, his broad shoulders tightly framing his black leather jacket, his dark-blonde hair slightly disheveled, and his jaw clenched so hard that the muscles along his cheekbones jumped erratically.
Elliot had barely stood up from his leather chair behind the long desk, his hand instinctively moving to adjust his perfectly tied blue silk tie. Before he could even open his mouth to call security, Grayson closed the distance between them in three furious strides. The right hook came out fast, continuous, and brutal.
WHACK!
The flesh-on-flesh impact echoed off the floor-to-ceiling glass walls overlooking Manhattan. Elliot’s head snapped backward, his slicked-back dark brown hair flying completely undone. The sheer momentum of the punch sent his slender body flying backward, crashing hard against the edge of the polished mahogany table. He slid heavily down the side, hitting the dark carpeted floor with a dull thud. Manila folders, financial ledgers, land deeds, and corporate strategy documents rained down all around him, covering his expensive navy blue suit in a sea of scattered white and yellow pages.
Grayson stood directly over him, his chest heaving as he breathed heavily through his nose. He pointed a long, trembling finger down at his adopted brother, his voice dropping into a guttural growl that vibrated through the room.
"YOU STOLE EVERYTHING MY FATHER LEFT ME!" Grayson growled, his angular features sharp with rage. "Ten years of running this company into the ground while I was pushed out to look like the black sheep!"
Elliot lay flat on the carpet, clutching his bleeding lower lip with his right hand, but he said nothing. He didn't scream, nor did he beg for mercy. He simply looked up at Grayson with cold, calculating, and restrained eyes, hiding whatever panic was mounting inside his chest.
The heavy office door swung wide open again. Harold, the Sterling family’s longtime lead attorney, walked in. The sixty-three-year-old man didn't hesitate for a single second. Taking in the scene in less than two beats, he marched straight past the overturned chairs, stepped directly up to Grayson, and delivered a sharp, decisive open-palm slap straight across Grayson’s right cheek.
WHACK!
Grayson spun around, his head turning from the force, clutching his stinging cheek as pure, unadulterated shock instantly replaced his fiery rage. "Harold?! What the hell are you doing?!"
"YOUR FATHER INSTRUCTED ME TO WAIT UNTIL THE TRUTH CAME TO LIGHT BEFORE TELLING YOU," Harold said, his voice as stern and cold as forged iron.
Without breaking eye contact, Harold reached inside his dark charcoal three-piece suit, pulled out a thick document folder sealed with red wax, and slammed it onto the mahogany table directly above where Elliot lay on the floor.
"THE WILL HASN'T FINISHED WITH YOU YET," Harold declared loudly. He turned his head sideways toward the open doorway. "NATALIE. COME IN."
Grayson froze in place. The rage completely evaporated from his face, leaving behind a hollow pale expression. The air left his lungs as a slender thirty-year-old woman wearing a cream maternity dress under a camel-colored coat walked slowly into the room. Her hands were folded anxiously over her clearly visible, six-month pregnant belly.
Grayson’s eyes widened in sheer disbelief. "Natalie...?"
May you like
Harold turned his piercing, authoritative gaze down toward Elliot, who was still sitting amidst the scattered white inheritance papers. "IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU’RE HIDING, ELLIOT?"
Elliot’s stoic, unreadable composure finally shattered into a thousand pieces.
