Chapter 3 - The Shadow on the Landing
Bennett’s head snapped up toward the balcony, his jaw dropping as he saw his brother standing on his own two feet.
"Julian?" Bennett stammered, his mind reeling from the avalanche of revelations. "You... you can walk? What is going on here?!"
Julian didn't answer immediately. He took three deliberate, agonizingly slow steps down the grand staircase, his iron cane clicking sharply against the marble treads. His dark, tailored suit hung loosely on his emaciated frame, making him look like a phantom haunting his own ancestral home.
"Oh, little brother," Julian sneered, his dark eyes glittering with a toxic mixture of envy and malice. "You were always so blissfully blind. You spent your life playing the brilliant heir, jetting off to Paris and New York, while I was left here to manage the rot in the foundation."
"You were in the cellar?" Bennett turned his glare to Josephine, then back to Julian. "Julian... you knew she was locked down there?"
"Knew?" Josephine rasped, her arm tightening around the babies until they let out small, synchronized cries. "He was the one who locked the door every night, Bennett! Victoria paid for the doctor, but Julian was the jailer! He fed me bread and dirty water for seven months!"
"Why?!" Bennett roared, his voice booming through the foyer like a cannon shot. He took two massive strides toward the stairs, his fists clenching so hard his knuckles turned white. "She was carrying my children! Your own blood! Why would you do this to her?!"
Julian stopped on the middle landing, leaning both hands heavily on his iron cane, looking down at Bennett with supreme contempt.
"Because those children are not just your blood, Bennett," Julian hissed softly. "They are the key to the entire Sterling fortune. Do you really think our mother left the estate to you because she loved you? Do you really think the Sterling Trust belongs to the firstborn son?"
Bennett frowned, a cold knot forming in his stomach. "The will was settled five months ago. I inherited the controlling shares of Sterling International."
"A temporary arrangement!" Julian spat, a spray of saliva catching the light. "Our grandfather’s codicil was very specific, Bennett. The entire land holdings, the château, and the ninety million Euros in the Swiss reserve accounts do not belong to you, nor do they belong to me. They belong to the first legitimate Sterling heirs born within the walls of this château!"
Josephine felt the air leave her chest. She looked down at the twin girls in her arms, their small, innocent faces oblivious to the war raging around them.
"When Victoria discovered Josephine was pregnant with twins," Julian continued, his voice dropping into a sinister monologue, "she panicked. If Josephine gave birth to your children, Bennett, Victoria’s marriage to you would be worthless. She wouldn't control the trust. So, Victoria came to me with a proposition."
"What proposition?" Bennett asked, his voice shaking with a terrifying, lethal quiet.
"We keep Josephine hidden until she gave birth," Julian chuckled, a dry, horrific sound. "Then, once the children were registered as abandoned orphans born on the estate, Victoria and you would 'adopt' them after your wedding. Victoria gets her marriage, the Vance empire gets access to the Sterling trust, and I... well, I got five million Euros transferred to an offshore account in Macao to keep my mouth shut and play the crippled hermit."
"You sold your own family," Bennett whispered, horror washing over him in waves. "You locked a pregnant woman in a dark hole for money."
"I took what was owed to me!" Julian screamed, his composure finally snapping, his pale face flushing a deep, mottled red. "I was the elder son! I was the one who bled for this estate while father showered you with everything! I deserved that money!"
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From outside the heavy oak doors, the sudden, shrill sound of police sirens began to wail, approaching fast down the long cedar-lined driveway of the château.
Julian’s eyes darted toward the high windows, his hands tightening on his iron cane. "Victoria called them," he muttered, a wicked grin spreading across his face. "She told the Gendarmerie that an escaped, mentally unstable former employee has broken into the château and kidnapped two infants. In five minutes, Bennett, this hall will be filled with armed men. Who do you think they’ll believe? The billionaire heir and his noble brother... or a dirty, barefoot girl carrying babies she can't prove are yours?"
