Chapter 3 - WRATH OF THE LION
The drive back into the heart of the city was a blur of heavy snow and heavier silence. Maren sat in the passenger seat of my SUV, staring out the window, while Leo slept peacefully in the car seat we had quickly installed in the back. I had bypassed my penthouse and driven straight to a private, heavily secured hotel residence owned by a shell company I controlled—one that Marcus and my father knew absolutely nothing about.
After ensuring Maren and Leo were safe, the doors locked, and private security stationed in the lobby, I left them sleeping. I had a reckoning to attend to.
It was 2:00 AM on Christmas Day when I kicked open the heavy oak doors of my father’s study at the Sterling Estate. He was sitting by the roaring fireplace, sipping a glass of rare scotch, Marcus sitting across from him. They were likely celebrating the recent acquisition of a rival firm. They looked up, startled by the violent entry.
"Julian?" my father barked, his thick white eyebrows furrowing in annoyance. "What is the meaning of this? You look like a madman."
I didn't speak. I crossed the Persian rug in three long strides, grabbed Marcus by the lapels of his tailored suit, and hauled him out of his leather chair, slamming him violently against the mahogany bookshelf. Books rained down around us as Marcus gasped for air, his eyes wide with sudden terror.
"Julian! Have you lost your mind?!" my father roared, standing up.
"You intercepted her letters," I snarled, my forearm pressing against Marcus’s throat. "You blocked her calls. You hacked her medical records."
Marcus’s face turned a mottled red, his hands clawing weakly at my arm. "Julian... I... it was for the company... for you..."
I threw him to the floor in disgust. He scrambled backward like a pathetic crab. I turned my wrath on the man who had sired me. Arthur Sterling Sr. stood tall, trying to project the intimidating aura that had cowed boardrooms for forty years. It didn't work on me anymore. I only saw a monster.
"You threatened her," I said, my voice dropping to a deadly, quiet register that made even my father flinch. "You threatened to take my son."
The old man’s expression shifted from shock to cold calculation. He saw the game was up. He set his scotch glass down. "She is a distraction, Julian. A leech. That child would have anchored you to mediocrity. I did what a father must do to ensure his son achieves greatness."
"Greatness?" I laughed, a harsh, jagged sound. "You think sitting alone in a penthouse with a ledger is greatness? You stole my life, old man."
"I protected your empire!" he countered, stepping forward. "And if you think you can walk in here and play the righteous victim, remember who made you. If you choose that woman and that bastard over this family, I will strip you of everything. I will vote you out as CEO. I will freeze your assets. You will be nothing."
"You don't get it, do you?" I pulled my phone from my pocket, pulling up an email draft. "For the last five months, I’ve been consolidating my power. I hold 51% of the voting shares through the proxies I secured last week. I didn't do it to overthrow you; I did it because I was bored and empty. But now? Now it's the weapon I’m going to use to execute you."
My father’s face drained of color. "You're bluffing."
"Pressing 'send'," I said, tapping the screen. "That email just went to the board, triggering a no-confidence vote based on your illegal corporate espionage and unauthorized use of company funds to stalk a private citizen. Oh, yes. I had my own private investigators look into your 'off-the-books' expenses last month. I just didn't know the target was Maren."
May you like
I stepped closer to him, towering over him. "I am stripping you of the company. I am freezing your assets. And if you or this spineless rat on the floor ever come within a hundred miles of Maren or Leo, I won't use lawyers. I'll use my bare hands. Merry Christmas, Father."
I turned and walked out, leaving the ruins of my former life burning behind me.
