Chapter 10
Claire walked slowly toward the arched doorway of the dining room. The heavy silence that followed her was profound, punctuated only by the sound of Vanessa’s weeping and the ragged, panicked breathing of the men who had thought they ruled the world just twenty minutes prior.
Grandma Evelyn fell into step beside her. The older woman didn't say a word to the ruined family left behind. She simply adjusted her sparkling black evening jacket and walked with her head held high, looking like a queen escorting an empress out of a conquered territory.
As they crossed the threshold into the grand marble foyer, the oppressive heat of the dining room gave way to the cool, quiet air of the hallway.
"Well," Evelyn murmured quietly, a wicked glimmer in her sharp eyes. "That was the most entertaining turkey dinner I’ve had since 1982."
"I’m sorry you didn't get to eat, Grandma," Claire replied, her voice finally softening just a fraction, the iron grip of her restraint loosening now that she was out of their sight.
"Oh, please. The turkey was dry anyway," Evelyn waved a dismissive hand. She stopped near the massive oak front doors and turned to face Claire. Her expression grew serious, searching Claire’s face. "Are you alright, child?"
Claire took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. The emotional toll of severing her family was a heavy, cold weight in her chest. She had won, but victory over one's own blood never truly felt like winning. It just felt like survival.
"I will be," Claire said quietly. "It had to be done. Ethan was going to kill someone else."
"You did the right thing," Evelyn said firmly, reaching out to pat Claire’s cheek. "You excised a tumor. It’s a messy business, but it saves the patient."
Evelyn pulled her coat from the closet. "I’ll have my driver take me home. I assume you have your own ride?"
"My car is waiting outside," Claire nodded.
"Good. Call me tomorrow. We have much to discuss regarding your father’s liquidation," Evelyn said with a sharp smile, before sweeping out the front door into the crisp autumn night.
Claire stood alone in the foyer for a moment. She could still hear the muffled, frantic arguing coming from the dining room. Margaret screaming at Richard, Ethan shouting at Vanessa. It was the sound of a dynasty collapsing under the weight of its own arrogance.
She turned to leave, her hand reaching for the brass doorknob, when the silence of her clutch was broken by a sharp, vibrating buzz.
Claire paused. She opened the clutch and pulled out her phone. The screen illuminated the dim foyer. It wasn't Marcus Vance. It was an encrypted number, one she only gave to her highest-level intelligence assets within Apex Holdings.
She swiped the screen, lifting the phone to her ear. "Speak."
"Ms. Sterling," a distorted, mechanical-sounding voice crackled through the speaker. "We have a complication."
Claire’s eyes narrowed slightly. Her posture instantly stiffened, slipping back into the role of the apex predator. "Specify."
"The hospital files on Dr. Ethan’s malpractice... the ones you secured in the private server?"
"Yes," Claire said, her voice dropping to a whisper. "What about them?"
"Someone just tried to access them from an external IP address," the voice replied. "They didn't break the firewall, but they hit the outer defenses hard. Military-grade decryption software."
Claire’s heart skipped a beat. Ethan didn't have the skills, the money, or the connections to afford military-grade hackers. Richard certainly didn't.
"Who?" Claire demanded.
"We traced the bounce back," the voice said, pausing as if hesitant to deliver the information. "Ms. Sterling... the IP address traces back to a server located inside the Chicago headquarters of the private equity firm. The one that originally owned the hospital before you bought them out."
Claire stared at the heavy oak door. The Chicago firm. The one she had aggressively outbid to take control of St. Jude's. They were supposed to be out of the picture.
"They're looking for the files," the voice continued. "They want the leverage on Ethan."
"Why?" Claire murmured to herself, her mind racing. Why would a billion-dollar equity firm care about one arrogant surgeon’s malpractice cover-up unless... unless Ethan was involved in something much bigger than coding errors and a botched hip replacement.
"Keep the firewall locked down. Put Vance on standby," Claire ordered, her voice cold as ice.
May you like
She hung up the phone. She looked back down the hallway toward the dining room. The family she had just broken wasn't the end of the war. It was just the opening battle.
Claire pushed open the front door and stepped out into the dark.
