The Hart Name
642 Words
By eight thirty that morning, Bella was sitting across from a man who looked as though he had not slept either.
“You said there was another development.”
Martin Hayes, the attorney who had handled her father's estate for years, removed his glasses.
“There is.”
Bella folded her arms.
“Then tell me.”
He opened a file.
“The court has received a petition to reopen the estate.”
Bella frowned.
“From whom?”
Martin hesitated.
“Sterling Global Holdings.”
The name seemed to drain the warmth from the room.
Bella stared at him.
“After eight years?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“They claim there are unresolved assets connected to your father's company.”
Bella gave a short, humorless laugh.
“There is nothing left.”
“I wish it weren't so simple.”
Martin pushed a document toward her.
Bella read the first page.
Her father's name appeared in bold letters.
Daniel Hart.
Below it was a figure large enough to make her stomach tighten.
“This can't be right.”
“I wish it weren't.”
Bella looked up.
“You told me my father's remaining assets were frozen years ago.”
“They were.”
“Then where did this come from?”
Martin's expression darkened.
“That's what I have been trying to determine.”
Bella lowered her eyes to the document again.
There was something else.
A second name.
Richard Sterling.
Her father's alleged victim.
The man whose death had destroyed both families.
Bella's fingers went cold.
“Why is Richard Sterling's name here?”
Martin leaned back.
“Because your father and Richard Sterling were not enemies when this document was created.”
Bella looked up sharply.
“What?”
“They were partners.”
She stared at him.
“I know they worked together. Everyone knows that. But after Richard died, my father was accused of stealing from him.”
“That was the accusation.”
“And you don't believe it?”
Martin was silent for several seconds.
“I never did.”
Bella's heart began to pound.
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I had no proof.”
He reached into the file and removed a folded piece of paper.
“Your father left this with me the week before he died.”
Bella stopped breathing.
“Why are you showing me this now?”
Martin's eyes met hers.
“Because someone has started looking for it.”
The room suddenly felt smaller.
Bella unfolded the paper.
Her father's handwriting covered the page.
Only one sentence had been written.
If anything happens to me, do not trust anyone who says Richard betrayed me.
Bella read it twice.
Then a third time.
Her father's final words from years ago echoed in her mind.
One day, you'll learn I never betrayed Richard Sterling.
Her eyes burned.
“Why would he write this?”
“I don't know.”
“You must know something.”
“Bella, I know enough to tell you that your father's story was never as simple as the newspapers made it sound.”
She folded the note carefully.
“Then I'm going to find out the truth.”
Martin nodded slowly.
“I was hoping you would say that.”
Bella stood.
Outside the office, rain traced thin lines across the windows.
She looked at the city beyond the glass.
Somewhere in it was the Sterling empire.
And somewhere inside that empire was the man who had inherited his father's hatred.
Bella did not know his face.
She did not know his name.
She only knew one thing.
If Alexander Sterling was determined to bury the past, she was going to uncover it.
Neither of them knew that fate had already placed them on a collision course.
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