Chapter 6
729words
An internal family tribunal was in session.
Family elders and branch leaders filled the hall. The atmosphere was oppressive, thick with cigar smoke.
Tiffany knelt in the center, restrained by two muscular female guards, her face bruised and swollen.
"Madam," she struggled to speak, "I'm Brandon's girlfriend. He's the real head of the family. You can't treat me like this…"
"Precisely because you are his girlfriend," I said coldly from beside the head chair, "you should be kneeling while you listen."
I picked up the first document.
"December seventh, the shooting range incident. You knew Bella was pregnant yet forced her to be a live target. This caused Bella extreme distress and nearly triggered a miscarriage. Violation of family rules: harming a fellow member. Do you admit it?"
Tiffany bit her lip. "That was just a game…"
"I'm asking if you did it. Yes or no?"
"…Yes."
"Good." I picked up the second document.
"December twelfth, the freezer incident. Under the guise of family discipline, you imprisoned a pregnant woman in minus eighteen degrees. This caused Bella to suffer frostbite and pneumonia. Is this true?"
Tiffany grew agitated. "She broke the wine…"
"Broke the wine?"
I sneered. "Arthur always said objects are dead things, people are alive. You'd risk a life over a broken bottle? Do you admit it or not?"
Tiffany instinctively looked for Brandon, but he remained strangely silent.
Fear finally registered on her face.
"Three days ago, the delivery room blockade. You attempted murder by proxy, trying to end the Sterling bloodline. Each of these three charges carries the death penalty."
Tiffany broke down completely, turning to Brandon who cowered in the corner.
"Darling! Save me!"
"What's wrong with you?"
"You're the head of the family! How can you let this madwoman walk all over you?"
Brandon kept his head down, avoiding eye contact with me.
I looked at Tiffany and calmly instructed my subordinates:
"Slap her."
"Make her repent to that newborn child for everything she's done."
"Continue until her teeth fall out."
The enforcer secured her, and with just one slap, blood appeared at the corner of her mouth.
SLAP! SLAP! SLAP!
Screams echoed throughout the hall until her teeth littered the floor, her face a bloody pulp, her voice reduced to whimpers.
Brandon finally couldn't bear it and stood up. "Catherine! Enough! Tiffany is still…"
"Brandon." I interrupted him. "If you hadn't stood up, I might have forgotten—"
"You require punishment too."
"Guards, make him kneel and kowtow!"
Brandon looked stunned, as if he couldn't comprehend.
"What did you say? I am a man! I am the young master! I will not kneel!"
I stood, walked to him, and slapped the DNA report across his face.
"Young master?"
"All the elders are watching. You—a bastard without a drop of Sterling blood—dare call yourself young master?"
"Everyone, look closely!"
I distributed the prepared DNA test reports and copies of Arthur's will to everyone.
"This man before you has no Sterling blood whatsoever! He's just a bastard—the illegitimate son of a tennis coach! An impostor who doesn't deserve to wear the family crest!"
"Arthur spared your life only because of years of sentiment!"
"And I," I stroked my belly, raising my head, "am Arthur Sterling's legal widow and acting head of this family! The child in my womb is the rightful heir! From the moment this will takes effect, this house, this estate, and the accounts that pay your salaries are all under my management!"
"That's not true," Brandon, caught off guard by my revelation, looked frantically around the room. "Don't listen to her lies! I really am—"
"Shut up!" I stared at him like he was already dead. "One more word and I'll have you dragged out to feed the dogs!"
My command silenced him instantly.
Tiffany's eyes widened as she stared at Brandon in disbelief.
In that moment, she finally understood why I had dared challenge Brandon.
Her support had collapsed. Like a deflated balloon, she crumpled to the ground, the light in her eyes dimming, her usual arrogance extinguished.
Brandon's legs gave way, and he collapsed to his knees with a dull thud.
"Kowtow one hundred times."
I stared at him coldly.
"Miss one, and I'll have you stripped naked and thrown into that freezer so you can experience what Bella endured!"
