Chapter 335
Chapter 335:
“In the one place Arthur can’t touch without drawing too much attention,” Julian said. “The Sterling Ancestral Tomb p>
They walked back to the car in silence. As Julian reached for the door handle, he doubled over, a violent coughing fit racking his thin frame. He pulled the handkerchief away from his mouth. It was spotted with bright red blood. Skye saw it.
“You need a hospital, Julian p>
“I need a successor,” Julian wheezed, wiping his mouth. He tried to smile, but it was a grimace. “My lungs are failing. Years of smoking and stress. I have weeks, maybe days p>
“Why didn’t Alistair tell me?” Skye asked as they settled back into the plush seats.
“Because Alistair is undercover,” Julian said, leaning his head back against the headrest. “Even from himself sometimes. He couldn’t drag you into the mud. He wanted you clean. He wanted you to be the one thing in his life that wasn’t stained by this history p>
Skye looked out the window. She felt a pang of guilt for the slap. Alistair had been carrying a mountain while she had been complaining about a pebble.
“And Liam p>
“Liam is… complicated,” Julian sighed. “He thought he could pay off the debt. He thought money solved everything. He didn’t realize that some debts are paid in soul, not cash. He’s been paying interest on his father’s sins since he was a boy p>
The car pulled up to the curb outside Skye’s apartment building.
“Take me to the Sterling Tomb,” Skye said to the driver. “Now p>
Julian hesitated. “It’s guarded. Arthur has private security watching it. He suspects the Ledger is there, but he never found the secret mechanism. He can’t blast it open without the police noticing p>
“I am the Sterling Matriarch, technically,” Skye asserted. “I have the right to visit my parents p>
Julian assessed her. He saw the steel in her eyes. He nodded to the driver.
“Go p>
Skye pulled out her phone. She didn’t call the police. She texted her head of security, a man she had hired away from Blackwater.
“Mobilize the security detail. Meet me at Green-Wood Cemetery. Bring the armored SUVs p>
𝖱е𝖺𝘥 𝘁𝗁е 𝗋𝗲𝗮𝘭 𝗌𝗍𝗼𝗋𝗒 𝗈ո 𝘣𝗲𝗹𝘯𝗈𝗏e𝘭ѕ.со𝘮
She was using her own money, her own power. She was done playing the victim.
Julian watched her text. “You aren’t the girl they think you are,” he observed.
“I died once already,” Skye replied, her voice cold. “This time, I’m the one doing the burying p>
They arrived at the cemetery gates twenty minutes later. It was a sprawling, gothic city of the dead, filled with marble angels and stone obelisks.
A black sedan was parked across the street from the main gate. Two men sat inside, watching.
“Arthur’s watchers,” Julian identified them.
Skye put on a pair of large, dark sunglasses. She stepped out of the Rolls-Royce.
She walked boldly toward the gates.
The men in the sedan noticed her. The driver’s door opened. One of them started to step out, reaching inside his jacket. Suddenly, three black SUVs roared around the corner. They screeched to a halt, boxing in the sedan.
Skye’s security team spilled out. They were armed, professional, and imposing. They didn’t draw weapons, but they stood with hands on holsters, making their intent clear. The watchers hesitated, then slowly got back into their car and closed the door.
Skye didn’t even break stride. She walked through the gates, Julian limping beside her, flanked by her own private army.