Chapter 12 - The Other Sterling
Hospital security caught Diane Sterling leaving Eleanor's floor nineteen minutes before I arrived.
She claimed she had come to apologize for Vanessa.
She denied touching the IV.
The camera angle could not prove otherwise.
I called Vanessa.
"Did your mother visit mine?"
"I don't control my mother."
"That wasn't my question."
"She said she wanted peace."
"Someone changed Eleanor's medication."
Vanessa went quiet.
"Adrienne, listen to yourself. You're turning every accident into attempted murder."
"And you're turning every crime into an accident."
I canceled the wedding that afternoon.
Canceled.
Vanessa arrived at headquarters at six.
She called me from downstairs.
"You ended our engagement through an email to vendors?"
"I ended it when you hurt my mother. The email was paperwork."
"You don't know what you saw."
"I saw Grace burned on the floor."
"Because Grace jumped in front of me!"
"In front of what?"
Vanessa stopped.
There it was again.
"Say it," I told her. "She jumped in front of what?"
"I lost my temper."
"You threw the bowl."
"I meant to throw it at the wall."
"My mother was in the bed beside the wall."
Silence.
"We're done."
Vanessa's voice dropped.
"Then you should know Grace isn't innocent."
"Don't."
"Caleb hid assets from her. Eleanor knows. Your mother isn't giving Grace restitution. She's buying her silence."
"Silence about what?"
"Ask Grace who Marcus's biological father is."
"You are unbelievable."
"Ask her."
I found Grace in a conference room with Marcus doing homework beside her.
I told her exactly what Vanessa had said.
Marcus looked up.
"Mom?"
Then she whispered, "Caleb was his father in every way that mattered."
My stomach dropped.
"Grace... what does that mean?"
May you like
She looked at me.
"It means Vanessa finally found the one secret I hoped Marcus would never have to learn like this."
