Chapter 9: This Is What You Wanted
799 Words
The day my father signed the agreement, the weather was beautiful.
Sunlight poured through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Sterling estate study, making the edges of the equity transfer documents glow.
My father sat behind the desk, expression dark.
Adrian sat across from him, calm as always.
The lawyer stood beside them and confirmed the clauses one by one.
When I was called back, Evelyn was there too.
She stood by the door of the study.
She did not sit.
My father probably wanted her to watch.
He wanted her to know that to punish me, he was willing to give everything meant for me to Adrian.
He also wanted me to know that if I continued entangling myself with Evelyn, I would be kicked out of the Sterling family completely.
He thought it was a threat.
He did not know this was the result Adrian and I had been waiting for.
Before signing, my father looked at me one last time.
“Chloe Sterling, I’ll ask you one more time.”
“Will you cut ties with her or not?”
Evelyn’s fingers moved slightly at her side.
I looked at my father and smiled.
“No.”
My father shook with anger.
“Good. Very good.”
He picked up the pen and signed his name heavily.
Richard Sterling.
When the pen scraped across the paper, I felt something inside me being scratched open too.
Not regret.
Only emptiness.
Because we had finally arrived at this step.
The lawyer passed the document to Adrian.
Adrian lowered his head and signed.
Adrian Sterling.
The two signatures were complete.
My father threw the pen onto the desk.
“From today on, Sterling Group’s shares have nothing to do with you. Chloe Sterling, don’t expect another cent from me.”
I said calmly, “Fine.”
He sneered.
“You think you have dignity? Without the Sterling family, you are nothing.”
I did not speak.
Because soon he would know who truly became nothing after leaving whom.
My father then turned to Evelyn.
His voice was cold as ice.
“And you.”
Evelyn raised her head.
He stared at her.
“You will move out in the next few days. You don’t need to come to the company again.”
Evelyn’s face turned pale.
She had probably expected this result.
But when she actually heard it, her body still swayed slightly.
I instinctively wanted to reach for her.
But I held myself back.
I could not soften now.
My father continued, “I, Richard Sterling, am not old enough to be fooled by the two of you.”
That sentence was almost funny.
He had been fooled.
But he did not know the person fooled most completely was not him.
It was Evelyn.
The study was dead silent.
Evelyn suddenly looked at me.
Her eyes were quiet.
No questioning.
No panic.
Not even hatred.
That made it harder.
I would rather she curse me.
Call me despicable.
Disgusting.
Rotten like her.
But she said nothing.
She only asked softly, “Miss Sterling, is this what you wanted?”
My throat felt blocked.
After a few seconds, I said, “Yes.”
She nodded.
“Then congratulations.”
Then she turned and left.
I watched her back.
My nails dug into my palm.
Adrian said quietly beside me, “Don’t follow her.”
I closed my eyes.
“I know.”
Of course I could not follow her.
If I followed her now, everything we had done would be wasted.
After Evelyn left the Sterling estate, I left too.
I did not go back to the company.
I did not go home.
I drove alone to Cedar Grove.
My mother was sleeping.
I sat beside her bed and held her hand.
“Mom,” I whispered.
“I drove her away.”
“That woman will never stand beside Dad again.”
“Did I do well?”
The room was quiet.
My mother did not answer.
I looked down at her thin hand.
A tear fell.
I did not know why I was crying.
I had won.
Adrian and I had succeeded.
My father had transferred important shares to Adrian.
According to the agreement Adrian and I signed earlier, he would transfer half of them to me within a month.
Evelyn had been thrown out of Sterling Group by my father himself.
She would never again have the chance to approach the core assets of the Sterling family.
I had protected what belonged to my mother.
I should have been happy.
But my mind kept repeating Evelyn’s last question.
“Miss Sterling, is this what you wanted?”
Yes.
This was what I wanted.
Then why did it feel like she had known the ending before I did?
- Writer
