chapter 39
Vivienne's POV:
I had been enjoying my morning coffee in perfect contentment, admiring the pristine roses blooming in Sterling Manor's gardens below, when the insistent ringing shattered my peaceful reverie.
Three rings. Four. Then I heard my stepfather's voice drifting from the study, warm and surprised in a way that made my stomach clench with sudden dread.
"Elena? My God, sweetheart, is that really you?"
The coffee cup in my hands nearly slipped. Elena. After more than a year of complete silence, why was she suddenly calling? Could she actually be coming back?
I crept closer to the study door, pressing myself against the mahogany frame as Robert's voice grew increasingly animated.
The man who had become a shadow of himself under Mother's reign was suddenly vibrant again, his words tumbling over each other with an excitement I hadn't heard from him in years.
"No, no, don't apologize," he was saying, his voice thick with emotion. "I'm just so relieved to hear your voice. Are you safe? Are you well? Where have you been?"
My fingers tightened around the delicate porcelain handle. It was just like Elena to somehow sense the perfect moment to reappear and steal whatever attention remained in this house.
"You want to come home today?" Robert's voice pitched higher with joy.
"I'll cook for you, sweetheart. All your favorites. Remember those blueberry pancakes you used to love?" His voice broke slightly, and I could picture him wiping his eyes behind his reading glasses.
Jealousy rolled through me as I listened to the tenderness in his voice, the complete transformation from the beaten-down man who barely spoke at dinner to this devoted father welcoming back his precious daughter.
When was the last time he had spoken to me with even a fraction of that warmth?
The moment he hung up, I was already moving, my silk robe fluttering behind me as I rushed toward the master wing. Mother would want to know about this immediately.
I found Rebecca Sterling in her private sitting room, immaculate as always despite the early hour.
Her hair was pulled into a perfect chignon, and she was reviewing what looked like financial documents over her morning coffee. The picture of controlled elegance, even in the face of our recent troubles.
"Mother." I knocked briefly before entering, my voice carefully modulated despite the urgency I felt. "We have a problem."
She looked up, one perfectly sculpted eyebrow arching as she set down her Mont Blanc pen.
"If this is about those ridiculous photos again, Vivienne, I thought I made myself clear yesterday. Lucas believes you, the lawyers are handling the rest, and—"
"It's Elena." I watched with satisfaction as her composed expression flickered. "She just called Robert. She's coming home today."
The silence stretched between us, heavy with implications.
Mother's fingers drummed once, twice against the leather-bound portfolio before she leaned back in her chair, her blue eyes growing cold and calculating.
"Is she, now?" Her tone was coolly unimpressed. "What's there to panic about? When she lived here before, she knew her place well enough, didn't she? "
"But Mother," I protested, my voice rising with anxiety, "you didn't hear how Robert sounded. The moment she calls, it's like he completely forgets I exist. She'll steal all his attention the second she walks through that door."
Something sharp flickered in Mother's blue eyes, a flash of possessive coldness that I recognized all too well.
"She won't be stealing anything," she said quietly, her voice carrying the kind of steel that had always made me feel safe. "Robert belongs to this family now. To us. I won't allow that little girl to disrupt what I've built here."
Rebecca Sterling had never been a warm woman, but when it came to defending what was hers, she was utterly ruthless.
"But what should we do?" I asked, wringing my hands. "She's... she's different now, Mother. Not like before when she'd just take whatever we said and suffer in silence."
I hesitated, then forced myself to continue with the humiliating truth. "Actually, I... I ran into her at a restaurant recently. We had... words. And then she slapped me. "
Mother's eyebrows drew together sharply as she studied my expression. "You've seen her already?"
I nodded miserably. "She wasn't alone either. There was this man with her—he looked... powerful. Wealthy."
Understanding flickered across Mother's features, and her lips curved into something that wasn't quite a smile.
"Ah. So she's managed to latch onto some rich benefactor." Her voice turned arctic. "How predictable. Though I doubt her precious father—with all his high-minded principles about education and integrity—would approve of his daughter becoming some man's kept woman."
A surge of confidence rushed through me as Mother's words sank in.
I could already picture it unfolding—Robert's face crumpling with disappointment when he realized what his precious daughter had become.
The inevitable moment when her sugar daddy would tire of her and cast her aside like yesterday's newspaper. And then she'd come crawling back here, desperate and broken, begging for our forgiveness.
This time, I thought with sweet satisfaction, I would be the one doing the slapping.
---
I glanced toward the kitchen, where Robert was already bustling about with renewed energy, humming as he pulled ingredients from the refrigerator.
I was still calculating how to casually drop hints about Elena's new lifestyle—casually mention how Elena seemed to be living quite extravagantly these days, hint at the expensive clothes and mysterious benefactor.
Let him piece together the sordid truth before she could spin whatever lies she had prepared.
The sharp chime of the doorbell interrupted my plotting, and I felt a surge of vindictive excitement. Perfect timing. I could confront her directly, watch her scramble for explanations when faced with someone who knew exactly what she had become.
"I'll get it," I called out, smoothing my sweater as I strode toward the foyer.
But when I pulled open the heavy oak door, the sight that greeted me made my triumphant smile freeze on my face.
Elena stood there. And beside her was the same intimidatingly powerful man from our restaurant encounter—the very one I had assumed was her wealthy benefactor.
I stared in shock. Had she actually dared to bring him here?
Elena's gaze swept over me with cool indifference, as if my presence was exactly what she had expected. There wasn't a flicker of surprise in those steady blue eyes.
"Vivienne, what's taking so long?" Mother's sharp voice cut through the air from behind me. "Don't tell me I need to come greet our guests myself."