Chapter 3 - An Invitation to the Wire
Julian was an outsider in his own lineage, an architect who spent more time designing modular timber houses for displaced forestry workers in Maine than attending socialite galas. He had returned to the Sterling manor only to finalize the settlement of his late uncle’s independent trust, intending to leave before the weekend was out. But watching Elena stand small against the crushing authority of his mother had halted his departure.
"My mother told you she paid my college tuition," Julian said as he applied the dressing. It wasn't a question.
Elena swallowed hard. "She said you were ungrateful. That the family gave you everything, and you abandoned the firm."
Julian smiled, a dry, bitter curve of his lips. "My uncle paid it. Out of money he took out of this house thirty years ago when he walked away. She keeps ledgers of imaginary debts, Elena. She keeps them on you, she keeps them on the kitchen staff, and she tried to keep one on me." He tied the cotton gauze off with a neat, practiced knot. "Tomorrow morning, an inspection crew is surveying the old mill conversion three miles outside town. I need an intake coordinator on-site who actually knows the town’s families. Not a server. A coordinator."
May you like
Elena looked at her bandaged hand, then into the shadow of the hallway where Victoria’s footsteps occasionally clicked faintly through the floor joists. "She won't let me go. I owe the hospital."
"She bought the hospital note two years ago," Julian said softly. "You don't owe them. You owe a shell company with her initials. Pack your things before breakfast."
