Chapter 5 - The Frame Job
The revelations tore through Leo’s mind like fire. He spent the rest of the night curled up in his closet, clutching his mother’s old silver locket—the only thing he had managed to keep when they were evicted from their home. Inside it was a tiny, faded picture of her smiling, holding him when he was just a toddler.
She wasn't a thief, Leo thought fiercely, tears soaking into his sweater. She was honest. She always told me to be honest.
By morning, the tension in the Sterling house was palpable. Richard was quiet, staring at Leo over breakfast with an expression of heavy guilt, though he didn't bring up what he had discovered. Eleanor, oblivious to the late-night discovery, tried her best to make Leo feel included, buying him new books, a tablet, and custom clothes.
At 2:00 PM, Victor returned to the estate, carrying a briefcase. He had called an emergency meeting with Richard to discuss the upcoming merger with Vance Bio-Tech.
"Richard, we need your final signature on the asset transfers," Victor said, spreading documents across the study desk while Leo sat quietly in the library next door, reading a book Eleanor had given him.
"Not now, Victor," Richard said coldly, standing by the window. "I’m having our legal team reopen the 2018 embezzlement and theft file on Sarah Lin."
Victor froze, his hand dropping from his briefcase. "What? Why on earth would you dig up an eight-year-old dead case?"
"Because Sarah Lin was Leo's mother," Richard said, turning around, his eyes piercing into Victor. "And the more I look at the security logs from that night, the more I realize the evidence was pushed through too fast. Someone inside our executive board wanted her gone."
Victor’s face paled for a fraction of a second before he recovered his cool mask. "That’s absurd, Richard. The woman was caught red-handed. Don't let sentimental guilt over a street kid compromise your business logic."
"I am going to find the truth, Victor," Richard warned. "If my company wronged that boy's family, I will tear down every executive responsible."
Victor sneered, snapping his briefcase shut. "You're losing your mind."
An hour later, as Victor left the study, he passed by the library where Leo was sitting. Victor looked around—the hallway was empty. He stepped into the library, leaning down until his shadow fell over Leo's book.
"You think you're clever, don't you, little rat?" Victor whispered, his tone venomous. "You think you can use your dead thief of a mother to pull money out of my family?"
Leo stood up, his small chest heaving, his eyes burning with a fierce, quiet rage. "My mom wasn't a thief. You don't know anything about her!"
"I know she died with nothing, just like you will," Victor hissed. "Keep digging, kid. See what happens to people who try to fight the Sterlings."
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Victor turned and walked out, but as he did, he deliberately dropped a small, heavy silver object into the umbrella stand by the door—a prototype digital drive belonging to Sterling Global's secure files.
Ten minutes later, security alarms shattered the silence of the estate.
