Chapter 3 - The Heir at All Costs
"You're not taking her anywhere, Preston!" I shouted, stepping between him and the doctor. My father’s lawyers immediately stepped up beside me, creating a physical barricade.
Preston sneered, his charming billionaire facade slipping to reveal the exact same terrifying devotion I had seen in his mother’s eyes. "She is my wife, Claire. She is carrying my son. My mother was simply treating her with traditional family medicine."
"Traditional medicine?" I laughed, a bitter, hysterical sound. "It was arsenic, you psycho! You were going to let your mother kill her!"
Preston leaned in closer, dropping his voice so only I could hear. "The Sterling men do not share custody, Claire. And the Sterling heirs do not need weak, modern mothers poisoning their minds. My mother raised me perfectly fine on her own after my father's first wife tragically passed away in childbirth. History just repeats itself."
A sickening realization washed over me. This wasn't just Victoria's madness. It was a generational cult. Preston was fully aware of the plan. He wanted Olivia dead so he and Victoria could mold the child exactly as they pleased, with no interference.
"Dr. Aris," Preston said smoothly, turning back to the physician and waving a thick legal document. "Here is my medical power of attorney. Have her prepped for transport. My private ambulance is downstairs."
Dr. Aris looked at the paperwork, then looked at me. "Mr. Sterling, this hospital is required to report suspected poisoning to the police. I cannot release a patient who is an active victim in an attempted homicide investigation."
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Preston smiled—a cold, terrifying slash of white teeth. "My attorneys just spoke to the precinct. My mother has unfortunately confessed to accidentally mixing up some holistic herbs. A tragic, harmless mistake by an elderly woman. The police have no grounds to hold my wife."
He was buying his way out of it. I had less than an hour before his lawyers bullied the hospital administrators into submission.
