Chapter 164

Chapter 164
Richard's POV

I stood at the window of the vacation estate, watching the sunset cast long shadows across the manicured lawn.

Behind me, my mother Sophia sat rigidly on the antique settee, her perfectly manicured nails tapping nervously against her teacup. The silence between us stretched thin, filled with unspoken accusations.

"I know you were involved in arranging the surrogacy agreement," I finally said, my voice cutting through the tension like a blade. I turned to face her, keeping my expression neutral despite the storm raging inside me. "I know you helped Victoria convince Hannah to carry Finn's child."

Mother's teacup clattered against its saucer. Her eyes widened with genuine shock. "How do you know about that?" she whispered, the carefully constructed facade crumbling. "The surrogacy agreement was strictly confidential. Victoria assured me—"

"That no one would ever know?" My laugh was hollow, echoing in the spacious room. "Did you really think I wouldn't find out? That I wouldn't notice when the woman I've been watching for years suddenly appeared in my family's home, carrying my brother's child?"

Mother set her cup down with trembling hands. "Richard, please understand—"

"Understand what, Mother? That you manipulated an innocent woman into this arrangement?" I kept my voice steady, though my blood boiled with rage. "You played on Victoria's guilt about Finn's childhood. You convinced her that Hannah would be the perfect vessel for the next Sterling heir."

"It wasn't like that," she protested weakly.

"No?" I moved closer, towering over her. "Then explain to me why you specifically sought out Peter to persuade Hannah Lancaster. Explain why, of all the eligible women in Boston, you chose the one woman you knew I had feelings for."

Mother's face paled. Her gaze dropped to her hands, now clasped tightly in her lap.

"You never expected her to be more than a temporary inconvenience, did you?" I continued mercilessly. "You thought she was just some desperate special education teacher who would take the money and disappear."

I paced the room, my movements precise and controlled, trying to contain the fury threatening to explode.

"And you certainly never expected Finn to actually care about her. That must have been quite the shock—watching your perfectly calculated plan backfire. Now instead of being pushed aside, Finn's position in the family has never been stronger, and Hannah..." My voice caught slightly. "Hannah is the darling of the Sterling estate."

Mother stood abruptly, her composure returning. "I did what was necessary for this family—for you! Finn has always been unstable, dangerous. I was protecting your inheritance, your future."

"By using the woman I care about?" My voice turned dangerously soft. "By ensuring she would be tied to my brother forever?"

"I didn't know you still had feelings for her!" Mother exclaimed, the regret in her voice almost palpable. "It had been years since you mentioned that little girl from your childhood. How was I supposed to know?"

"You promised me," I said, my tone suddenly flat. "Three years ago, when I left for the European division. You promised you would look after her while I focused on the company. Was this how you planned to 'look after' her all along?"

Mother's shoulders slumped with the weight of her miscalculation. "I only wanted what was best for you, Richard. I didn't want you getting mixed up in Finn's chaos. Hannah was... she was just collateral damage."

I stared at my mother, the woman who had shaped my entire life, and felt nothing but cold contempt. Without warning, I reached down and ripped open the bandage on my arm, tearing at the wound I'd received when protecting Hannah at the abandoned resort.

Blood immediately began to seep through my designer shirt, the crimson stain spreading slowly across the pristine white fabric.

"Richard!" Mother cried out in horror. "What are you doing?"

The bodyguards stationed discreetly around the room shifted uncomfortably, exchanging uncertain glances but remaining in position, unsure whether to intervene.

I studied my blood with detached fascination, the pain grounding me somehow. "Do you know what it's like," I asked quietly, "to be told from childhood that you're the future of the Sterling dynasty? To have your entire existence planned out before you could even speak?"

The memories flooded back—how Mother had pulled me out of high school at sixteen, insisting I didn't need a diploma when I had a corner office waiting for me. How William had initially ignored me, then suddenly taken a keen interest, drilling me mercilessly on company protocol and finance.

"I followed every plan you laid out," I continued, my voice distant. "I became exactly what you wanted me to be. The perfect Sterling son. The ideal heir." I looked up, meeting my mother's frightened gaze. "And then I came back from the European division and found that Hannah had somehow become Finn's wife."

I remembered the shock of that discovery—standing frozen in the hallway of Sterling Estate, overhearing Victoria and Hannah discussing the surrogacy agreement. My whole body had gone numb, my hands shaking uncontrollably as the reality set in.

"I couldn't believe it at first," I said, more to myself than to Mother. "I thought she must have been coerced, that she couldn't possibly have agreed willingly. But then I saw them together, and I realized..."

I trailed off, unable to articulate the pain that had consumed me. After the initial shock had worn off, I had made my own plans. Working with Mother to undermine Finn's influence in the company. Arranging for various starlets to approach my brother, Alicia being the one who "successfully caught Finn's interest." Contacting Eliza as a pawn in my game against Finn.

"When I came back and she didn't recognize me..." My voice cracked slightly. "She was so distant, so cold it made me suffocate. I thought I could win her over. The phonograph at the music challenge—I wanted to win it for her, to make her smile."

But Hannah had drawn a line, clearly establishing boundaries between us. "We can only be ordinary friends, Richard," she had said firmly, her eyes showing no trace of the little girl who had once given me a piece of stone.

"Why?" I asked suddenly, my voice raw with emotion. "Why does Finn always stand between us? Why does she always choose him instead of me?"

The question hung in the air, unanswered. Mother's face was a mask of regret as she watched my blood slowly drip onto the imported marble floor.

"I don't know," she finally whispered. "I don't know."

I looked down at my bleeding arm, feeling the pain with a strange sense of relief. It was real, tangible—unlike the hollowness inside me that no amount of success or power could fill.

I had failed. Despite all my careful planning and manipulation, Hannah was more firmly entrenched in Finn's world than ever. And now, with the baby coming, any hope of separating them was fading fast.

"I'm sorry," Mother said softly, reaching out to touch my arm.

I stepped back, away from her touch. "So am I," I replied, my voice empty of emotion. "So am I."