The Last Door

Chloe

“What?”

I stared at them, the absolute horror of their cruelty freezing the blood in my veins. The grandfather clock in the corner chimed a hollow, mocking note. Outside, the night was pitch black and the temperature was plummeting.

“Are you really throwing me out of my own home?”

Uncle Lucas’s expression did not soften. “This stopped being your home the moment you lost the inheritance.”

I gripped the edge of the mahogany table just to stay upright. “At least wait until morning. It’s already late. Please… just let me stay till morning. I’m begging you.”

Instead of pity, my desperation was met with sharp, mocking laughter from Vanessa and Brenda.

Uncle Lucas stepped closer. His eyes burned with a deep, toxic resentment that had clearly been festering for years.

“How could Father be so biased?” he spat, voice trembling with sudden, ugly rage. “He gave forty percent of the company to Helena. And when they both died, you... a little girl— inherited the majority. How can you stand above your own uncles? Don’t you think you were too greedy?”

I stared at him, jaw slack. He was dragging my dead mother’s name into this while I stood shivering in front of him.

“Uncle Lucas,” I whispered, “Grandpa did what he thought was right—”

“And look where it landed you!” he roared, cutting me off. “Your greed ruined you, Chloe. You wanted the throne, and you let a wolf walk straight through the front door. You brought this on yourself.”

"Forty years I worked under Father, and he still handed the controlling shares to a girl who hadn’t even finished university. You sat in that office like you were born for it. Well, look at you now. Maybe this is what happens when someone is given too much too soon. Don’t expect us to bleed for your mistakes.” said uncle Marcus.

"Stop begging, Chloe. You’re making this unpleasant for everyone. The estate is no longer safe for the rest of us as long as you’re under this roof. Julian has already made it clear that anyone who shelters you becomes a target. We have our own family to protect. Sentimentality is a luxury we can’t afford.” said uncle Marcus 

"Family? Am I not family?"

"That ended the moment you lost your grandpa"

Vanessa’s voice cut in, cold and satisfied. “Thankfully we were wise enough not to let you drag the rest of us down with you.”

Brenda folded her arms. “You should be grateful we even opened the gate tonight.”

"The decision is final. Security will escort you to the gate. After tonight, the Sterling name no longer covers you.” uncle Hugh

“You should thank us, actually. At least we’re telling you to your face. Most of the family already stopped answering your calls days ago.” said uncle Marcus

The pieces locked into place with sickening clarity. They did not care that Julian had destroyed me. They were almost pleased. In their eyes I was finally being punished for the only crime that had ever mattered to them the crime of being loved by my grandfather more than they were.

This were the same people I could've sworn would die for me...

The last shred of innocence I still carried died right there on that polished floor.

I stopped crying. I stopped begging. A cold, dead numbness spread through my body like ice water. I straightened, wiped the tears from my face with the back of a trembling hand, and turned my back on the people who shared my blood.

"just so you know... this isn't the end... I begged today but the next time we meet you'll will be crawling at my feet.

I walked out of the grand living room, down the long hallway, and through the front doors of the Sterling estate without looking back once.

"until then Chloe go back to the gutter you came from."

"you're no longer a sterling how can you fight back?!"

"All back and no bite."

I heard their mocking comments and laughter.

The iron gates clicked shut behind me. The sound was final and deafening in the dead of night.

I collapsed against the cold stone wall outside, the freezing air hitting my face like a slap. For a moment I simply existed— hollow, shaking, emptied of everything.

Then a pair of headlights blinded me. A car door slammed. Hurried footsteps rushed across the pavement.

“Chloe? Oh my god, Chloe!”

Sarah.

She dropped to her knees in front of me, hands already reaching for my face. “I heard what happened. Why are you out here alone? Look at you— you’re freezing.”

“Sarah…” My voice was barely a breath. I lifted hollow eyes to hers. “They threw me out.”

“How dare those scumbags!” she screamed, whipping her head toward the towering gates. Fury contorted her features. “They abandoned you in the middle of the night? I knew they were selfish, but this is subhuman!”

She pulled me into a tight embrace. I felt her warmth, her fear, her absolute loyalty and it almost undid me.

Sarah drew back, gripping my shoulders hard. “Get in the car. Right now. You’re coming home with me. My parents will have a room ready. We will figure this out together. Do you hear me?”

I looked into her worried, loving eyes and felt my heart twist with painful gratitude. Then Julian’s face flashed through my mind his endless resources, his henchmen, his psychotic determination to erase every trace of me.

“No.” I gently but firmly pulled away. “Sarah, I can’t. If Julian finds out you’re helping me, he will destroy your father’s business. He will come after you. I will not let that happen. You don’t need to get involved. I can handle this.”

“Handle this?” Her voice cracked. Tears welled in her eyes. “Chloe, look at yourself! It’s the middle of the night. You have no money, no phone, no security, nowhere to sleep. Where are you even going to go?”

I drew a deep breath. The freezing air filled my lungs with sudden, dangerous clarity. The fear that had controlled me for days burned away, leaving only reckless, absolute resolve.

“I’m going to Cross Holdings.”

Sarah’s face drained of colour under the streetlights. “What? Chloe, no. You can’t be serious. That man is—”

“The only person in this city more dangerous than Julian,” I finished quietly. “And right now, that is exactly what I need.”

I straightened, wiped the last of the tears from my face, and met her horrified gaze without flinching.

“I’m done running. I’m done begging. If the only way to survive is to walk into the devil’s office and sign whatever he puts in front of me… then that is what I’m going to do.”

"Alexander Cross I am willing to be your Mrs cross as long as you be my armour of revenge"