Chapter 8 - THE EDGE OF MADNESS
The heavy oak doors of the nursery were violently thrown open. Avery slammed into the room, her chest heaving, her eyes wild with panic.
The nursery was a cavernous, opulent room decorated in soft creams and golds. But the crib in the center of the room was empty. The silk blankets were thrown onto the floor.
"Looking for this?"
Avery spun toward the open French doors leading to the massive stone balcony.
Victoria Sterling stood on the edge of the parapet, the biting ocean wind whipping her silver hair around her face. In her arms, wrapped in a thin blanket, was one-month-old Leo. The baby was crying softly, disturbed by the cold air and the tension radiating from the woman holding him.
"Victoria, put him down," Avery begged, her voice trembling. She took a slow, agonizing step forward. "The FBI is downstairs. It's over. Don't make this worse."
Victoria let out a breathless, manic laugh. The elegant, calculated CEO was entirely gone. In her place was a broken, cornered animal. Her makeup was smeared, and her eyes burned with a terrifying, unhinged light.
"Worse?" Victoria spat, holding the baby slightly further over the stone railing. A fifty-foot drop to the marble terrace below awaited them. "You took my company. You took my legacy. You humiliated me in front of the world. There is no 'worse' for me, Avery."
"He is an innocent child!" Avery cried, tears streaming down her face. "He has nothing to do with this! He's Liam’s son!"
"He's not a Sterling!" Victoria screamed back, her voice raw. "He's the spawn of a Vance and a Mitchell! He's a dirty, tainted thing. If I can't have the empire, then I will make sure the true bloodline ends tonight."
"Avery!"
Liam burst into the nursery, his tuxedo torn, breathing heavily. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw his mother on the balcony holding his son over the edge.
"Mother, stop!" Liam yelled, stepping out onto the balcony, his hands raised in surrender. "Put Leo down. Please. I'll do whatever you want. I'll leave with you. I'll help you run."
Victoria looked at the man she had raised. A cruel, twisted smile touched her lips. "You? You are just a tool, Liam. A street rat I bought to secure a boardroom vote. I never loved you. You were just a necessary transaction."
Liam physically recoiled, the words striking him harder than a physical blow. The last shred of his identity crumbled into dust. He stood paralyzed, broken by the woman he had worshiped.
Avery realized Liam couldn't save them. He was too shattered. She had to do this herself.
She took a deep breath, forcing the panic down, finding a well of strength she didn't know she possessed. She stepped past Liam, moving slowly toward the edge of the balcony.
"Victoria," Avery said, dropping the desperate, pleading tone. Her voice was suddenly calm. Grounded. "You didn't bring him out here to drop him."
Victoria’s eyes narrowed. "Don't test me, you little brat."
"You brought him out here because you want a trade," Avery stated smoothly. She reached into her clutch purse. Her fingers bypassed the iron key and wrapped around the heavy silver object she had taken from the nursery downstairs earlier that evening.
Avery pulled it out and held it up in the moonlight.
It was the silver pocket watch. Her father’s watch.
Victoria’s manic expression faltered. Her eyes locked onto the gleaming silver.
"You loved my father," Avery said softly, the realization finally solidifying in her mind. The diary, the photograph, the way Victoria had kept the watch for thirty years. "It wasn't just an affair to you, was it? You actually loved Thomas. But he found out about Marcus, and he chose his integrity over you. He rejected you. That's why you killed him."
"Shut up," Victoria hissed, a tear finally escaping her eye, mixing with the smeared mascara.
"You framed him because he broke your heart," Avery pressed, stepping one inch closer. "And you kept his watch because it's the only piece of him you have left. The only piece of the only man who ever looked at you as a woman, not a bank account."
Victoria’s bottom lip trembled. Her grip on the baby loosened slightly as her eyes remained fixated on the watch.
"You lost the company," Avery said softly, holding the watch out. "You lost your freedom. Don't lose the last piece of your humanity. Give me my son, Victoria. And I will give you the watch. You can take it with you."
Victoria stared at Avery. The cold, ruthless billionaire seemed to shrink, rapidly aging before Avery’s eyes. She looked down at the crying baby in her arms, then back at the silver watch.
Slowly, agonizingly, Victoria stepped down from the stone ledge.
She walked toward Avery. She didn't look at Liam as she passed him. She stopped in front of Avery, her eyes hollow and defeated.
Without a word, Victoria gently placed baby Leo into Avery’s desperate, waiting arms.
Avery immediately pulled her son to her chest, burying her face in his soft blanket, sobbing with absolute relief.
Victoria reached out and took the silver pocket watch from Avery’s trembling hand. She clutched it to her chest, closing her eyes.
"He really did love me," Victoria whispered to the wind. "Before he knew what I was."
The door to the balcony burst open again. Six armed FBI agents swarmed out, weapons drawn.
"Victoria Sterling! Put your hands in the air!"
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Victoria didn't fight. She didn't scream. She simply opened her eyes, looked at the silver watch in her palm, and held out her wrists to the agents.
As they placed the cuffs on the fallen queen of the Sterling empire, Avery turned away, holding her baby tightly. She looked at Liam, who was standing in the shadows, crying silently. The nightmare was finally over.
