Chapter 7 - EDMUND STERLING’S LAST VOTE
Edmund Sterling resigned as board chair before he was formally removed.
He did not leave quietly.
Through counsel, he argued the presumed-death petition had been a lawful good-faith action based on conflicting reports.
The surveillance files destroyed that defense.
Then notary Erica Lowe cooperated.
She admitted Charles Dunning arranged a remote session that never occurred.
She had notarized based on representations from Sterling counsel.
She faced her own consequences.
Dunning’s law firm placed him on leave.
He eventually surrendered his license amid proceedings and cooperated with investigators.
The forged stock surrender traced back to a document-production system controlled by Sterling counsel.
Edmund’s fingerprints were not literally on every page.
He did not need them to be.
Emails showed knowledge.
Direction.
Concealment.
Victoria’s position was murkier.
She knew Maya may be alive.
Knew the tracking program existed.
Received succession fees.
Benefited.
But investigators found less evidence that she personally forged documents.
Important.
She was ruthless.
Entitled.
Complicit in parts.
Not automatically guilty of every act her father committed.
Maya refused to exaggerate.
Victoria hated even that.
“You think acting fair makes you superior?”
“No.”
Maya replied.
“I think facts are useful.”
At the final shareholder meeting before Edmund’s resignation, he asked to address Maya.
She allowed it.
Public record.
He stood.
“You have destroyed forty years of partnership between our families.”
Maya looked at him.
“My father wrote that you were trying to hollow out the company.”
“He was wrong.”
“Then why buy assets below valuation?”
“Risk.”
“Why conceal confirmed proof I was alive?”
Silence.
“Why file the petition?”
Edmund’s face tightened.
“You had abandoned your responsibilities.”
There.
Finally.
He believed it.
“You disappeared.”
“I traveled.”
“You rejected the company.”
“Yes.”
“You left Nathan with no successor.”
“Yes.”
“So when he died, someone had to act.”
Maya stared.
That was the core.
Edmund did not see himself as thief.
He saw himself as successor by necessity.
He believed Maya’s disinterest forfeited her rights.
“Then why not call me?”
He laughed bitterly.
“Because you would have said no.”
Exactly.
“So you forged yes.”
Silence.
Maya continued:
“You didn’t save the company.”
“You removed the one person who could stop you.”
Edmund’s face changed.
Then:
“You’re just like your father.”
Maya almost smiled.
“That is not always a compliment.”
He sat.
The vote accepted his resignation.
Sterling Capital’s acquisition agreements were terminated or renegotiated through independent review.
Some transactions had legitimate commercial logic.
Those were re-bid.
Others disappeared.
Sterling did not cease to exist as a family.
Not literally.
They lost control over Cross Global.
Lost fees.
Lost influence.
Faced litigation and criminal exposure where supported.
But Maya did not seize their private fortune.
No fantasy confiscation.
No need.
Consequences were enough.
Later that day, Victoria entered Maya’s office without knocking.
Formerly Nathan’s office.
Maya had changed almost nothing inside.
“What?”
Victoria threw an envelope onto the desk.
“My resignation.”
Maya looked at it.
“Effective immediately?”
“Yes.”
“You have contractual notice obligations.”
Victoria laughed.
“You're refusing my resignation?”
“I’m saying legal agreements still exist even when rich people are angry.”
Victoria stared.
Then laughed despite herself.
For the first time, she seemed human.
She sat.
“Do you hate me?”
Maya thought.
“No.”
Victoria looked almost insulted.
“I threw you down stairs.”
“You ordered it.”
“Same difference.”
“No.”
“The guards did it.”
“You caused it.”
Maya touched the faint scar above her eyebrow.
“I remember.”
Then Victoria whispered:
“I didn’t know who you were.”
Maya’s eyes met hers.
“That is the entire problem.”
Victoria looked away.
For once—
she understood.
Maybe not enough.
May you like
But some.
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