Chapter 3: The Cold Reality
Eleanor didn't flinch. She turned her head slowly, her expression as unreadable as the surface of a deep lake. "You spent the last three years treating my grief like an administrative hurdle, Julian. You didn't want a mother; you wanted a payday. You assumed that because I was grieving, I was weak. You forgot who built the Sterling legacy."
"You can't do this!" Julian lunged for her phone, but the partition between them was locked.
"I didn't just take the money back, Julian," she said, her voice terrifyingly calm. "I transferred the entire principal to the Sterling Foundation—a charitable entity that, by its bylaws, requires an active, competent board of directors that you are legally barred from ever joining. Every cent you thought you were entitled to is now being used to fund medical research for the very condition your father died of. You aren't just broke; you are officially disinherited."
