Chapter 10
We rushed to the hospital.
The Sterlings were already there.
William Sterling looked like he’d aged ten years.
His wife was crying in the waiting room.
The doctor came out.
“Family of Victoria Sterling?”
William stood up.
“How is she?”
“The crash caused severe internal injuries. We’ve done everything we can, but… she’s asking for Daniel Carter.”
Everyone looked at Daniel.
He looked at me.
“Go.”
“Claire—”
“She’s asking for you. You need to go.”
He hesitated.
Then he nodded and followed the doctor.
I sat down next to my father.
Margaret sat on my other side.
For once, she had nothing to say.
Thirty minutes passed.
Then an hour.
Finally, Daniel came out.
His face was pale.
His eyes were red.
“How is she?”
“Gone.”
The word hung in the air.
William Sterling let out a sound like a wounded animal.
His wife broke down completely.
Daniel walked over to me.
I stood up and hugged him.
He held me tightly.
“What happened?”
“She told me everything. Before she died.”
He pulled back.
“The accident wasn’t an accident. Her father found out she’d been keeping records. Of everything. The emails. The sabotage. Vance. All of it. She was going to go to the police. To confess. To make things right.”
He paused.
“Her father had the brakes on her car cut.”
The room went silent.
William Sterling looked up.
His face was a mask of grief and guilt.
Two police officers walked into the waiting room.
They approached William.
“Mr. Sterling? We need to talk to you about your daughter’s accident.”
He didn’t resist.
He stood up.
He looked at Daniel.
Then at me.
And he nodded.
Like he knew it was over.
The officers led him away.
His wife followed, sobbing.
We left the hospital in silence.
No one knew what to say.
Victoria was dead.
Killed by her own father.
The man who had used her as a pawn in his business games.
The man who had destroyed his own daughter rather than let her tell the truth.
When we got back to the penthouse, we sat in the living room.
No one turned on the lights.
The city lights shone through the windows.
Margaret was the first to speak.
“I always thought Victoria was a spoiled brat. But no one deserves that.”
She looked at Daniel.
“How are you holding up?”
“I don’t know. She was terrible to Claire. She tried to destroy our lives. But she didn’t deserve to die.”
He looked at me.
“She told me to tell you she was sorry. For everything. She said she was jealous. Jealous of what we had. Jealous of you. She said she wished she could have been different.”
Tears rolled down my face.
I had hated Victoria.
I had feared her.
But now she was gone.
And all I felt was sadness.
My father put his hand on my shoulder.
“It’s over, Claire. Really over this time.”
But it didn’t feel like it.
It felt like the end of one chapter and the beginning of something else.
Something heavier.
The next few weeks were a blur of legal proceedings and press coverage.
William Sterling was charged with murder.
Robert Vance was charged with corporate espionage and fraud.
The story dominated the news for months.
But gradually, the attention faded.
Life went back to normal.
Or as normal as it could be.
Daniel threw himself into his work at Veridian Tech.
He was named CEO of the new subsidiary.
He was brilliant at it.
Margaret and I developed a relationship that was something like friendship.
We still argued.
She still had opinions about everything.
But now they came from a place of respect.
Sometimes even affection.
My father watched all of this with quiet satisfaction.
Three months after Victoria’s death, Daniel and I went away for a weekend.
Just the two of us.
We went to a small cabin upstate.
No phones.
No emails.
No interruptions.
On the second night, we were sitting by the fireplace.
Daniel turned to me.
“I have something for you.”
He pulled out a small box.
He opened it.
Inside was a ring.
Not an engagement ring.
Something else.
“Daniel, what is this?”
“Eight months ago, I married you with a ring my mother picked out. It was beautiful, but it wasn’t us. It was everything she thought our marriage should be.”
He took the ring out of the box.
“This one is different. I picked it out myself. It’s simple. It’s real. It’s us.”
He took my hand.
“Claire Harrison Carter, I love you more than words can say. You’ve stood by me through everything. My mother’s disapproval. The scandal. The sabotage. The lies. And you’ve never once asked for anything in return.”
He slid the ring onto my finger.
It fit perfectly.
“I promise to spend the rest of my life making it up to you. I promise to stand by you. To protect you. To love you. Through everything. Always.”
Tears rolled down my face.
“I love you, Daniel. Always.”
We kissed.
The fire crackled.
Outside, the stars shone bright.
For the first time in a long time, I felt at peace.
The road ahead wouldn’t be easy.
There would be more challenges.
More drama.
More moments that would test us.
But we would face them together.
Hand in hand.
As husband and wife.
As partners.
As family.
May you like
And nothing would ever break us again.
The end.
