Chapter 4 - The Five Brothers
The double front doors of the estate were thrown back against the interior walls with a force that cracked the plaster.
Five men stepped into the foyer.
They were dressed in tailored dark suits, but there was nothing corporate about the way they moved. They stepped into the room with synchronized, lethal grace.
Noah led the group. At forty-two, he was broad-shouldered, with silver hair cropped short at his temples and eyes like cracked flint. Beside him was Leo, heavy-set and stone-faced; Julian, tall, lean, and holding a leather briefcase; Marcus, adjusting his gold cufflinks; and Caleb, the youngest, whose cold gaze immediately swept the room, cataloging every exit and security guard.
Arthur Vance stepped forward, his mouth opening to demand an explanation.
Then his eyes met Noah’s.
The color drained from Arthur’s face so fast he looked like a corpse in an expensive suit. His hand began to tremble at his side.
"Sterling..." Arthur whispered, his voice barely audible over the hum of the rain outside. "The Sterling family."
Noah stopped in the center of the ballroom floor, his heavy leather shoes clicking against the oak wood. He didn't look at Isaac. He didn't look at Wendy.
His eyes locked onto Arthur Vance.
"You remember us, Arthur," Noah said, his voice terrifyingly calm. "It’s been twenty years."
Isaac looked between his father and the five men. "Dad? Who are these people? What is he talking about?"
Arthur didn't answer his son. He couldn't. His eyes were wide with a deep, primal terror.
Twenty years ago, before Arthur Vance built Vance Construction into a billion-dollar enterprise, he was a subcontractor working out of the South Brooklyn docks. And back then, the South Brooklyn docks belonged to the Sterlings.
My father, Thomas Sterling, had run the freight terminals, the labor unions, and the private security for every shipping line from Red Hook to Bay Ridge. My brothers hadn't grown up in country clubs; they had grown up learning how to hold territory, how to enforce contracts, and how to make sure debts were paid in full.
When I married Isaac, I had deliberately hidden my family name, using my mother’s maiden name on our marriage certificate. I wanted a quiet life away from the violence of my youth.
I was wrong.
Noah walked slowly across the ballroom, his eyes dropping to my bruised, red wrists.
The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees.
May you like
"Julian," Noah said without turning his head.
Julian Sterling stepped forward, opening his leather briefcase. He pulled out a thick stack of legal documents and laid them casually on the head table, right next to my birthday cake.
