Chapter 18 - JULIAN’S LETTERS
The court allowed Julian to send one therapeutic letter every two months.
Dr. Grant screened them.
The first said:
Daddy made mistakes because the adults around him were under pressure.
Rejected.
The second said:
Your grandfather Harrison wants to take you away from the Sterling family.
Rejected.
The third arrived after Chloe’s sentencing.
I helped create the dinner where you were hurt. I knew people wanted your mother to react. I told myself no one would truly harm you. When Chloe struck you, I protected the plan instead of protecting you.
Dr. Grant allowed Lily to choose whether to hear it.
She said yes.
I read the letter aloud.
Lily touched the two permanent teeth beginning to push through her gums.
“Why did he think no one would hurt me?”
“Because believing that made his choice easier.”
“Did he love me?”
“Yes.”
She looked angry.
“Then love is stupid.”
“Love without responsibility can become dangerous.”
“Do you love me responsible?”
The phrase was imperfect and exact.
“Yes.”
She asked whether she had to write back.
“No.”
She drew a picture instead.
Julian stood behind a glass wall.
Lily and I stood outside.
She did not send it.
The custody evaluator completed his report.
Julian displayed intelligence, attachment, shame, entitlement, and a long pattern of treating relationships as instruments. He understood some harm but continued externalizing blame.
The evaluator recommended no direct contact during criminal proceedings and no future unsupervised contact without sustained treatment, accountability, and Lily’s consent.
Parental rights remained legally intact for now.
Safety controlled access.
I filed for divorce.
Julian contested property, custody, and trust findings.
He requested maintenance from my Vale interests, arguing he had supported me during estrangement.
Our marital finances showed he paid most household costs.
They also showed those costs came partly from Sterling Crown accounts and debt.
My separate Vale inheritance remained protected where law and documents established it.
Marital property would be divided through tracing.
Infidelity did not automatically give me everything.
Fraud mattered where it affected assets.
The divorce became another long process.
I wanted one clean order saying he had forfeited the marriage by the foyer.
Law required schedules, disclosures, valuations, and hearings.
Slow procedure frustrated me.
It also kept Harrison from deciding the outcome through power.
At Sterling Crown, the independent restructuring officer proposed selling three luxury hotels, closing one failed development, and preserving profitable residential operations.
Family aircraft and art would be sold.
Employee pensions required restoration after years of underfunding.
Eleanor’s personal distributions stopped.
Thousands of employees kept jobs.
Hundreds faced layoffs from failed projects.
No plan protected everyone.
I joined an employee listening session only after invitation.
A construction manager asked why I had not seen the insolvency while living in the mansion.
“I mistook family money for company success.”
“Most people don’t get that option.”
He was right.
I did not answer with guilt large enough to demand his comfort.
I supported severance, retraining, and pension priority through the restructuring process.
Not from Lily’s trust.
From company assets, insurance, and recovered funds.
Then auditors found a transfer from Sterling Crown to a shell company bearing my name.
May you like
Thirty million dollars.
Julian had prepared to make me look like the thief who caused the collapse.
