Chapter 52: The Seed of Doubt

 

Sterling Estate. The Next Morning.

The morning sun streamed through the curtains, but Harper felt cold. She sat in the library, surrounded by stacks of old financial reports from the 90s. Sebastian was still asleep. The gala had exhausted him physically, and Dr. Ryan had given him a sedative to help his muscles relax.

Harper wasn't sleeping. She was hunting.

"Project Helios," she whispered, tracing the spine of a dusty ledger. "Where are you?"

She had searched the digital servers first. Nothing. Whoever erased "Project Helios" from the digital world was thorough. But paper... paper leaves a ghost.

She pulled out a black binder labeled "Board Minutes: 1995". 1995. The year she was born. The year her mother fled Paris.

Her fingers trembled as she flipped the yellowing pages. January... February... March... Nothing. Just boring budget approvals and construction loans.

She reached October. And there it was.

[ Special Session: Project Helios ] [ Purpose: Acquisition of bio-genetic assets from C.R. (Catherine Rousseau) ] [ Status: Approved. ]

Harper stopped breathing. C.R. Catherine Rousseau. Her mother's real name. "Assets." They called her mother's life's work "assets."

Her eyes scanned down to the signatures at the bottom of the page. She expected to see Richard Vance. And he was there. She expected to see Victoria Vance. And she was there too.

But there was a third signature. Bold. Sharp. Unmistakable. Arthur Sterling. Sebastian’s father.

Harper felt like she had been punched in the gut. The Sterlings weren't just bystanders. They were partners. Sebastian’s fortune—the very money that built this house, that paid for his education, that funded Sterling Corp—was built on the ruins of her mother's life.

Does he know? The question burned in her mind. Did Sebastian know that his father helped destroy my mother?

---

[The Interruption]

"Harper?"

A sleepy, raspy voice came from the doorway. Harper slammed the binder shut. Dust motes danced in the air.

Sebastian sat in his wheelchair, wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt, his hair messy. He looked soft, vulnerable, and completely in love. He rolled into the room, rubbing his eyes. "I woke up and you were gone. Are you okay?"

He noticed her pale face. He noticed the dust on her hands. He rolled closer, concern etched on his features. "You're shaking."

He reached out to take her hand. For the first time in their relationship, Harper flinched. She pulled her hand away before he could touch her.

Sebastian froze. His hand hovered in mid-air. The hurt in his eyes was immediate. "Harper?"

"I'm fine," Harper stood up quickly, hiding the binder behind her back. "Just... allergies. The dust."

"You flinched," Sebastian said quietly. He didn't buy the lie. "Why did you flinch?"

"I didn't," Harper lied again. She walked past him, keeping distance. "I have to go to the office. Victoria called an emergency meeting."

"Harper, wait." Sebastian spun his chair around, blocking her path. "Something happened last night. On the terrace. After I found you with the broken glass." He looked at her intensely. "Did someone say something to you? Was it that Frenchman?"

Harper looked at him. She saw the man she loved. The man who crawled for her. But behind him, she saw the signature. Arthur Sterling. And Louis's voice echoed in her head: Trust no one.

If she told him, would he protect her? Or would he protect his family's legacy? She couldn't take the risk. Not yet.

"No one said anything, Sebastian," Harper said coldly. "Stop being paranoid."

She stepped around his wheelchair. "I'll see you at the office."

She walked out.

Sebastian sat alone in the library. He looked at the empty space where she had stood. He looked at the shelf she had been reading from. "1995."

He narrowed his eyes. He wheeled himself over to the shelf. He pulled out the binder Harper had shoved back in the wrong place. He opened it. He saw his father's signature. And he saw the words "Project Helios".

Sebastian’s face went dark. He didn't know what Project Helios was. But he knew one thing: It had just put a wall between him and his wife.

He pulled out his phone. "Liam," Sebastian’s voice was ice. "Find out everything about a project from 1995 called 'Helios'. And find out who Catherine Rousseau is." "Do it now. Before I lose her."