Julian: How could Victoria know anything about the inheritance trust?
Elena: She spent two hours in your private home office yesterday while you were at the docks, sir.
Julian: My office was locked with a digital keypad!
Elena: She had a silver keycard in her handbag. I saw her unlock the deadbolt after lunch.
Julian: The master keycard... It was inside my late wife's jewelry box in the master suite.
Elena: She went through Sarah's personal belongings, Mr. Sterling. I heard drawers opening and closing.
Toby let out a soft whimper as the cool cloth eased the burning sensation on his foot.
Julian reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone to call his private pediatrician.
Julian: Dr. Reynolds, this is Julian Sterling. I need you at my residence immediately. Second-degree burn on Toby's foot.
Dr. Reynolds: I am five minutes away, Julian. Do not pop any blisters. Keep the area covered with a sterile cloth.
Julian ended the call and stood up, walking toward the walk-in pantry where Victoria had stumbled earlier.
On the middle wooden shelf, shoved behind boxes of imported tea, sat a navy blue leather portfolio.
Julian: What is my corporate legal folder doing hidden behind dry food supplies?
Elena: She carried that folder out of your office yesterday evening, sir.
Julian pulled the thick portfolio down, unzipping the brass fastener with trembling fingers.
Inside lay the original certified adoption decree for Toby, stamped with the gold seal of the Texas Family Court.
Julian: She found the sealed adoption records...
Elena: What adoption records, Mr. Sterling? Everyone in high society believes Toby is your biological son with Sarah.
Julian: Sarah couldn't carry a child after her cancer treatments, Elena.
Elena: Oh, Mr. Sterling... Sarah never told me.
Julian: We adopted Toby from a private agency in Austin when he was two days old. We kept the records sealed to protect him from media scrutiny.
Elena: And Victoria read these papers?
Julian: Clause nine of my grandfather's eighty-million-dollar estate trust explicitly requires a biological heir to activate the primary distribution.
Elena: Merciful God... If Toby is adopted, does that mean the trust fund goes to someone else?
Julian: If Toby is legally disqualified as an heir before his first birthday, forty percent of the estate reverts to the Vance family holdings under the merger terms.
Elena gasps, clutching the baby closer to her chest as her face turns pale beneath the blood.
Elena: She didn't just want to hurt him, sir. She wanted him out of the picture completely!
Julian: She wanted him declared unfit or removed from the family line so her father could claim thirty-two million dollars.
The doorbell began to chime frantically from the grand foyer, followed by heavy pounding on the double doors.
Victoria: Julian! Open these doors right now! You cannot leave me on the porch in a gown!
Julian: Stay in the kitchen with Toby, Elena. Lock the pantry service entrance.
Elena: Please be careful, Mr. Sterling. Her father has armed drivers waiting at the front gate.
Julian strode across the polished floor, his posture rigid with fury as he unlocked the heavy front doors.
Victoria stood on the limestone portico, her hair disheveled and her cheek glowing bright crimson from the slap.
Standing behind her were two towering private security guards in dark suits and sunglasses.
Victoria: You made a catastrophic mistake putting your hands on me, Julian.
Julian: Tell your hired thugs to step back off my property before I have base security arrest them for trespassing.
Victoria: These men work for Vance Maritime, darling. They take orders from my father, not a disgraced widower.
Julian: Your father doesn't own this ground, Victoria. And neither do you.
Victoria: I know your little secret, Julian! I know that brat inside isn't even a Sterling!
Julian smiled coldly, stepping onto the threshold and looking straight into her eyes.
Julian: You should have checked the date on that adoption decree, Victoria.
Victoria's arrogant expression flickered, her eyebrows drawing together in sudden, sharp doubt.
Victoria: What are you talking about? The court seal was dated last November!
Julian: That decree was finalized three months before my grandfather updated his testamentary trust.
Victoria took a step back, her high heels clicking nervously against the stone steps.