Chapter 9 - The Mother's GambitThat evening, Eleanor Sterling sat in her private drawing-room, her hands trembling as she poured a cup of herbal tea.
The door opened without a knock, and Christian walked in, closing it softly behind him.
"You've won your war against Julian, are you satisfied now?" Eleanor asked, her voice cracking with bitter resentment. "Are you going to throw your own mother out onto the street?"
"I never threw you out, Eleanor," Christian said, pulling up a chair and sitting opposite her. "You chose to abandon me twenty-six years ago when father died. You handed me over to social services with a check and a signed non-disclosure agreement so you could keep living in luxury with your new society friends."
Tears spilled down Eleanor's cheeks. "It was the only way to protect the family name! Society would have destroyed us!"
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"Society doesn't destroy people. Greed does," Christian said softly. "You have a choice. You can stay in this house, live comfortably, and watch us rebuild Sterling Global into an ethical company. Or you can join Julian in his exile. The choice is yours."
Eleanor stared at her eldest son, realizing for the first time that the boy she had tried to erase had returned as an immovable wall of justice.
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