Chapter 14 - Helena's Betrayal
Richard did not enter the room.
He simply smiled.
“Willow.”
Naomi immediately stepped between them.
“You should leave.”
Richard ignored her.
He looked at Edward.
“My brother is confused.”
Edward began trembling.
Willow moved beside him.
“No.”
Richard’s eyes shifted to her.
“You have no idea what you are interfering with.”
“I’m beginning to.”
Richard smiled.
“That confidence comes from your mother.”
Then he looked at Edward again.
“It didn’t end well for her.”
Willow went completely still.
Naomi heard it too.
Richard realized what he had said.
But he did not retract it.
He turned and walked away.
They had recorded the entire exchange.
For the first time, Willow believed Richard might truly fall.
Then Helena called.
Her voice sounded strange.
“Willow, I’m sorry.”
Willow’s stomach tightened.
“For what?”
“There are people at the gallery.”
“What people?”
“Sterling security.”
Willow stood.
“How did they get in?”
Silence.
Then Helena said the words Willow never expected.
“I gave them access.”
Willow’s heart dropped.
“Why?”
“They know about my brother.”
Willow remembered.
Helena’s younger brother had worked for Sterling Property Group for eleven years.
“They threatened his job?”
“More than his job.”
Helena began crying.
“They have evidence he altered inspection records under orders from one of Richard’s executives.”
Willow closed her eyes.
“So you gave them my gallery.”
“They wanted the office.”
“What did they take?”
“The old files Michael stored there.”
Willow’s chest tightened.
The duplicate ledger.
Catherine’s copied correspondence.
A flash drive.
Gone.
“Helena.”
“I’m sorry.”
Willow could barely speak.
“Was anything else there?”
Another silence.
Then Helena whispered.
“Your mother’s cassette copy.”
Willow ended the call.
Amanda looked at her.
“What happened?”
Willow stared through the window.
“The Sterlings just took everything from the gallery.”
Naomi shook her head.
“Not everything.”
She held up her phone.
“We have digital copies.”
Then her expression changed.
Her cloud storage login failed.
Amanda checked hers.
Locked.
Naomi tried the litigation server.
Access denied.
Someone had compromised all three backups simultaneously.
Within twenty minutes, Sterling Holdings filed an emergency motion accusing Willow and Michael of trafficking stolen corporate materials.
By sunset, the court temporarily sealed the disputed evidence.
Michael remained under investigation.
The merger clock continued.
May you like
Twenty-two hours.
For the first time since the anniversary party, Richard Sterling was winning again.
