Chapter 7 - The Father's Last Stand
The massive, multi-level penthouse was eerily silent when I finally stepped out of the private elevator.
The usual army of maids, chefs, and security guards was entirely gone. The suffocating luxury of the place suddenly felt incredibly hollow and cold.
I found Arthur Sterling sitting alone in his dark oak study, staring blankly out the floor-to-ceiling windows at the glittering Manhattan skyline he used to rule.
He didn’t look like an untouchable billionaire titan anymore. Stripped of his power, he looked like a frail, tired, incredibly old man.
A heavy, loaded silver revolver sat right on the center of the mahogany desk in front of him.
I stopped in the doorway, my eyes locked immediately on the weapon, calculating the distance between us.
“Are you going to shoot me, or are you going to shoot yourself?” I asked calmly, not breaking eye contact.
He let out a dry, bitter laugh that sounded more like a cough, finally turning his head to look at me.
“I built a massive empire, Victoria. From absolutely nothing. I employed thousands of people. I practically shaped the skyline of this city.”
“You smuggled lethal weapons to global war criminals,” I corrected him, stepping confidently into the room, my boots echoing on the hardwood floor.
“You stole millions from charities meant for kids. You utterly destroyed your own flesh and blood just to feed your massive ego.”
He turned his leather chair to fully face me, his eyes blazing with a sudden, desperate, pathetic fury.
“I did exactly what I had to do to survive! You were weak. You wanted to give it all away for some foolish sense of morality!”
“I wasn’t weak,” I said, stepping right up to the edge of the desk, looking down at him.
I glanced at the gun again. I wasn’t afraid of him anymore. I had faced much worse fires than the one burning in his eyes.
“I just wasn’t corrupt. And that simple fact terrified you to your core.”
I pulled the federal arrest warrant from my jacket and dropped it onto the desk, intentionally covering the silver gun.
“It’s over, Arthur. The FBI is currently securing the lobby. The Department of Defense has officially seized your entire company. Your blood-money fortune is gone forever.”
He stared down at the legal paper, his wrinkled hands shaking violently as the reality of his situation set in.
For a tense moment, I thought he might actually reach under the paper for the gun.
But he was a coward. He had always been a coward who paid other people to do his dirty work.
He slumped back heavily in his leather chair, totally defeated, the fight completely draining from his body.
“You’re no daughter of mine,” he whispered venomously, his eyes filled with pure hatred.
May you like
“You’re absolutely right,” I said, turning my back on him without a second thought.
“I’m Commander Sterling of the United States Navy. And I survived you.”
