Chapter 13 - THE EAST GARDEN
They reached the estate forty-three minutes later.
Avery was out of the car before it fully stopped.
“Where is she?”
The nanny was crying.
“East garden.”
Avery ran.
Liam followed.
Two security officers stood near the garden gate.
Avery almost screamed.
“Why are you standing here?”
One officer raised his hands.
“Mrs. Sterling isn't leaving.”
“She asked for ten minutes.”
“She took my baby.”
Liam pushed past him.
They found Victoria beneath an old oak tree.
She sat on a stone bench.
Leo was asleep in her arms.
Avery stopped.
Victoria looked up.
“I knew you'd come.”
Avery walked toward her.
“Give me my son.”
Victoria looked down at Leo.
“He has Liam's eyes.”
“Give him to me.”
Victoria did.
Immediately.
Avery pulled Leo against her chest.
Checked his face.
His hands.
His breathing.
He was fine.
Liam stood several feet away.
“What were you thinking?”
Victoria looked at him.
“I wanted to say goodbye.”
Avery froze.
“What does that mean?”
Victoria removed an envelope from her handbag.
“I resigned from the foundation.”
Liam said nothing.
“I resigned from the family office.”
Still nothing.
“I am leaving New York.”
Liam stared at her.
“For how long?”
“I don't know.”
Victoria looked at Avery.
“I owe you an apology.”
Avery's expression remained guarded.
“Yes.”
Victoria almost smiled at the blunt answer.
“I hated you before I knew you.”
“I noticed.”
“I told myself it was because you weren't prepared for this family.”
Avery waited.
“But the truth was uglier.”
Victoria looked toward the house.
“You reminded me of who I was before I became this.”
Liam frowned.
Victoria continued.
“I grew up in a two-bedroom apartment in Queens.”
Avery blinked.
She had never known.
“My father repaired elevators.”
“My mother worked at a pharmacy.”
“When Daniel chose me, the Sterlings treated me exactly the way I treated you.”
Avery stared at her.
“They mocked my accent.”
“My clothes.”
“My education.”
“They taught me every rule.”
“And eventually I became better at those rules than they were.”
Victoria looked at Avery.
“I thought that was survival.”
“It wasn't.”
Avery's voice was quiet.
“No.”
Victoria nodded.
“It was surrender.”
She looked toward Leo.
“And then I tried to make you surrender too.”
Avery felt anger.
Pity.
Sadness.
None canceled the others.
Victoria continued.
“I had no right to test Leo.”
“No.”
“No right to humiliate you.”
“No.”
“No right to interfere in your marriage.”
Avery looked directly at her.
“No.”
Victoria nodded.
“I know.”
Liam finally spoke.
“Why now?”
Victoria looked at him.
“Because yesterday I heard your father tell you something I spent twenty-nine years refusing to hear.”
“What?”
“That fear doesn't become love just because you call it protection.”
Liam looked away.
Victoria handed him the envelope.
Inside were the original letters from Thomas.
All of them.
And one more document.
Liam read it.
His expression changed.
“What is this?”
Victoria stood.
“A confession.”
Avery frowned.
“For what?”
Victoria looked at her.
“Richard didn't act alone.”
Liam went still.
Victoria continued.
“I gave him Leo's medical sample.”
Avery's stomach dropped.
Victoria's eyes filled with tears.
“I didn't know he intended to falsify the report.”
“But I knew he wanted to challenge the trust.”
She looked at Liam.
“So if there are consequences, I will accept them.”
Liam stared at her for a long time.
Then Leo made a small sound.
Victoria looked toward him.
She didn't reach out.
Avery noticed.
For once, Victoria waited for permission.
Avery looked down at her son.
Then back at Victoria.
“Would you like to say goodbye?”
Victoria's face crumpled.
“Yes.”
Avery stepped closer.
But she didn't hand Leo over.
Instead, she stood beside Victoria.
Close enough for the grandmother to touch one tiny hand.
Victoria did.
May you like
Leo wrapped his fingers around hers.
And Victoria Sterling finally cried without trying to hide it.
