Chapter 10

Inside the executive office, the air was different. The two women inside were having a serious conversation.

Natasha, Victoria's assistant stood by the desk, her arms crossed, looking more stressed than she let on.

"Julian and him? They are so different. I don't think they will get along," she said quietly. “ When he finds out the truth... he’s going to lose it, Victoria. He’s spent the last five years acting like, not only this company but everything your brother built is already his."

Victoria Sterling stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, looking out at the city she controlled. She didn't turn around.

"Julian is my son, but he is not the heir," she said, her voice calm but cold as ice. "He never was. He knew the terms of the trust just as well as I did. He just bet on us never finding my brother's son."

"Still. Knowing him, he's not going to see it that way," Natasha warned. "He’s going to feel like what was rightfully his got taken away from him."

"Then let him," Victoria turned, her expression unreadable. "This isn't about what Julian wants. It's about doing right by my brother. It’s about the law."

Natasha opened her mouth to argue, but a sharp knock on the heavy oak door cut her off.

The tension in the room disappeared instantly. Victoria’s cold expression softened into something else. Anticipation.

She took a breath and smoothed her jacket.

"He's here," Victoria said. A small smile touched her lips. "Let them in."

Natasha stepped towards the door and opened it for them.

"Master Maxwell," Kieran said as the door opened and Natasha stood on the doorway, stepping aside to let him go first. "She's ready."

Maxwell nodded, his facial look calm, however deep down, his heart was hammering against his ribs. Still, he wanted to look neutral, he wasn't going to walk in there looking like a nervous kid. He stepped across the threshold.

The office was huge. That was the first thing that hit him. It was bigger than his entire apartment, probably bigger than his neighbor's apartment too. The walls were lined with books and art that looked like it belonged in a museum.

But his eyes went straight to the woman standing behind the massive glass desk. Victoria Sterling.

She was older than he had expected. The first he noticed about her was that she resembled his dad, and him too. She had sharp eyes and a strong posture. She wore a white suit that looked like it cost a lot and she radiated power. Maxwell felt like he was standing in front of his boss for a second, or sitting through an interview that could decide the rest of his life. 

This was the person who controlled an empire.

Maxwell stopped a few feet from the desk. He felt awkward in his cheap jeans and wrinkled shirt, painfully aware of the bandage on his hand.

For a long moment, nobody said anything.

Victoria just stared at him. Her eyes scanned his face, searching. She looked at his jaw, his hair, his eyes. It wasn't a judgmental look like the one Julian gave him. It was... emotional.

Her eyes started to shine and her lips curved into a smile, "My God," she whispered, her voice trembling slightly. "You look exactly like him."

Maxwell smiled back at her faintly. 

Victoria let out a short laugh. She walked around the desk, moving toward him. She hugged him. Maxwell hesitated before reciprocating. 

As she stepped back from the hug, she just stood in front of him, looking him up and down.

Then her eyes landed on his hand. The blood-spotted bandage.

Her expression hardened instantly. The emotion vanished, replaced by something sharp and dangerous.

"What happened to your hand?" she asked.

Maxwell instinctively pulled his hand back. "It’s nothing. Just a... Small cut." He assured her.

"A  small cut," she repeated. She didn't buy it. “No need to lie to me. I know your step brother did this.”

Maxwell's stomach dropped. How did she know that?

Victoria now had a cold expression on her face as she said. "Kieran told me what he saw when he arrived at that wedding. A mother treating her own son the way she treats you? Is something I never thought I would hear," Her voice went colder. "Don't worry, from now on things will change." She almost sounded like she was making a promise to him.

She continued. "You are a Sterling. Do you understand what that means?"

Maxwell didn't answer. He didn't know what it meant. Not really.

Victoria explained. "It means you don't take disrespect from anyone, or kneel for anyone. It means you don't clean up broken glass while people film you. It means you don't let them treat you like you're nothing."

Maxwell was quiet. Truthfully words didn't come at this moment, he was speechless realizing that this was very real. 

She gestured to the sitting area by the window. Two leather chairs and a small table. "Please. Sit."

Maxwell nodded, then walked over and sat down. The leather was soft. Expensive.

Victoria sat across from him. For a moment, she just looked at him again. Like she was trying to memorize his face.

Natasha and Kieran stood off to the side. 

"I've been searching for you for eight months," she said. "Every day, I wondered if you were okay. If you were safe. If you even knew who your father was." She paused. "Kieran told you what happened to him?"

"Yeah," Maxwell said. "He did."

"Then you know your father was Marcus Sterling. My older brother." Her voice softened when she said his name. "He was brilliant. Stubborn. Kind in ways people didn't expect from someone with his background." She smiled faintly. "You look so much like him. It's... overwhelming."

Maxwell shifted in his seat. "He never told my mother who he was."

"No, he didn't." Victoria's expression darkened. "Marcus had his reasons. He didn't reveal his identity to your mother, because he wanted her to love him for who he was. But your mother... Debra. She made assumptions about him. He said she looked at him like he was beneath her from the start. When she got pregnant, he wanted to tell her the truth. But she'd already decided he was a nobody. She told him to leave and never contact her again."

Maxwell felt something twist in his chest. "So he just... left?"

"He didn't know about you," Victoria said firmly. "Not until years later. By then, Debra had married Ramon Lexus. She'd built a new life. Marcus tried to reach out once, but she refused to see him. She told him she'd already moved on and didn't want him disrupting her family."

Maxwell stared at her. "He tried?"

"He did. Multiple times. He even tried to tell her his real identity but she never gave him a chance." Victoria explained. "But your mother made it clear she wanted nothing to do with him. Eventually, he stopped trying. He thought... he thought maybe you were better off without him."

Better off? Maxwell almost laughed. Better off being treated like trash his whole life? Better off being humiliated and beaten down by people who should've protected him? He really wished his dad had taken him away a long time ago, he wouldn't have experienced the hellish childhood he had then.

Maxwell looked down at his bandaged hand. "When did he die?"

"Fifteen years ago." Victoria's voice went quiet.

"I'm sorry," Maxwell said. Right now one of the things he wanted the most was to meet his dad. 

"So am I." Victoria leaned back in her chair. "Marcus left everything to his bloodline. The company, his assets, his shares. It was all supposed to go to you. But we didn't know you existed until a while ago, and neither did we know we could find you. I've been holding it in trust, waiting. Hoping we'd find you."