Chapter 13 — The Man Who Ordered Everything
Chapter 13 — The Man Who Ordered Everything
The plane touched down in Geneva just before midnight.
Evelyn had spent the entire flight staring at the same photograph.
Her father.
Her mother.
Sebastian.
Gabriel.
And herself.
A perfect family captured before the Sterling name became synonymous with betrayal, disappearance, and death.
But now she knew the photograph had been a lie.
Not because the people in it were pretending to love one another.
Because someone had been giving orders long before any of them understood what those orders meant.
Thomas Sterling.
Samuel Vale.
The Black Serpent.
The stolen trust.
The destroyed empire.
Every road seemed to lead back to one man.
But Evelyn had learned enough to know that when everything pointed toward one person, there was usually another person hiding behind him.
The woman who had called her had given them only one instruction.
Come to Europe.
Nothing else.
No address.
No explanation.
Only a name written in the final message she received before landing.
Villa Saint-Claire.
Sebastian sat across from her.
He hadn't spoken much since they left Mexico.
Neither had their mother.
The silence between the three siblings felt different now.
They weren't strangers anymore.
But they weren't a family yet.
Not after everything they had learned.
Gabriel remained missing.
Thomas remained missing.
And their grandmother was apparently dying.
Evelyn looked through the window.
Snow-covered mountains surrounded the airport.
“Do you think she's telling the truth?”
Sebastian shook his head.
“I don't know.”
“You don't sound surprised.”
“I've spent my entire life being told our family was dead.”
He looked at the photograph.
“I stopped believing anything a Sterling told me a long time ago.”
Their mother lowered her eyes.
“I deserve that.”
Sebastian looked at her.
“You gave me away.”
His voice was quiet.
“But I was told you were dead.”
“I thought you were.”
“That doesn't make it better.”
“No.”
Their mother swallowed.
“It doesn't.”
Evelyn looked between them.
For years, she had imagined what it would feel like to have a family.
Now she had one.
And somehow it hurt more than being alone.
The plane stopped.
A black vehicle waited on the runway.
A driver stepped out.
“Miss Sterling?”
“Yes.”
“My employer is waiting.”
“Who?”
The driver hesitated.
“She asked me not to give you her name.”
Evelyn stared at him.
“Then how do I know you're not here to kill us?”
The driver smiled faintly.
“You don't.”
The journey took nearly two hours.
The road climbed into the mountains.
Snow began falling harder.
Eventually the vehicle stopped before an enormous iron gate.
Beyond it stood a stone mansion.
Older than the Sterling estate.
Much older.
No lights burned in the windows.
A woman stood outside.
She was dressed in black.
Her silver hair was tied behind her head.
Evelyn recognized her immediately.
Not because they had met.
Because the woman's face appeared in the photograph hidden inside the original Sterling archive.
The woman walked toward them.
“Evelyn.”
Evelyn stepped out.
“Who are you?”
The woman looked at her for several seconds.
Then said:
“Your grandmother.”
Evelyn stopped breathing.
Behind her, Sebastian froze.
Their mother began crying.
The old woman looked at her daughter.
“You came back.”
Her daughter whispered:
“I had to.”
The grandmother's eyes hardened.
“You always did what you were told.”
Then she turned toward Evelyn.
“Unlike your father.”
Evelyn's expression changed.
“You know where he is.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
The old woman smiled.
“Inside.”
The mansion was enormous.
But unlike the Sterling estate, there was no luxury.
No paintings.
No servants.
No gold.
Only stone walls and dark wooden floors.
Evelyn followed her grandmother through a long corridor.
At the end was a room filled with old documents.
Maps covered the walls.
Photographs.
Names.
Dates.
Connections.
The Black Serpent symbol appeared everywhere.
Evelyn stopped.
“This is where it started.”
Her grandmother nodded.
“Not the Black Serpent.”
“The Sterling Empire.”
She pointed toward a large map.
Europe.
Mexico.
South America.
Asia.
Hundreds of companies were marked in red.
“These were the original Sterling assets.”
Evelyn stared.
“There are more than we knew.”
“Your father hid most of them.”
“Why?”
“To protect them.”
“From whom?”
The grandmother looked at her.
“From himself.”
Evelyn frowned.
“What does that mean?”
The old woman walked to a locked cabinet.
She opened it.
Inside was a single black book.
She placed it on the table.
“This belonged to Thomas.”
Evelyn touched the cover.
“What is it?”
“His orders.”
She opened the book.
Every page contained instructions.
Dates.
Names.
Bank accounts.
Operations.
Disappearances.
At the top of each page was one sentence:
ORDER OF THOMAS STERLING.
Evelyn's stomach tightened.
She turned another page.
A name.
A person she knew.
A company destroyed.
Another page.
A journalist who had disappeared.
Another.
A rival businessman found dead.
Another.
A politician forced out of office.
Evelyn slowly closed the book.
“My father did all this?”
Her grandmother nodded.
“Yes.”
Sebastian stepped closer.
“He told us he was fighting the Black Serpent.”
“He was.”
“Then why do these orders look exactly like theirs?”
“Because he became what he was fighting.”
Silence.
Evelyn looked at her grandmother.
“You said my father wanted to protect us.”
“He did.”
“He killed people.”
“Yes.”
“He destroyed families.”
“Yes.”
“He built an empire through fear.”
“Yes.”
Evelyn's voice broke.
“Then why should I believe anything you tell me?”
Her grandmother looked directly at her.
“You shouldn't.”
That answer shocked Evelyn.
The old woman continued.
“Trust is what destroyed this family.”
A door opened.
Their mother entered.
She was holding a small envelope.
“Evelyn.”
“What?”
“This was hidden in the house.”
She handed it to her.
The envelope contained a single letter.
Thomas's handwriting.
Evelyn opened it.
My children,
If you are reading this, then I have failed to keep you away from the truth.
Evelyn's heart began pounding.
You will hear that I ordered everything.
Some of it is true.
She stopped.
Her hands shook.
But you will never understand why unless you know who gave me the first order.
Evelyn looked at her grandmother.
Her grandmother's face became expressionless.
Evelyn continued.
I was twenty-seven when my mother summoned me to this house.
She gave me my first assignment.
Destroy the man who betrayed our family.
Evelyn's eyes widened.
She looked at her grandmother.
“You ordered him.”
Her grandmother didn't deny it.
“Yes.”
The room became silent.
“My father worked for you?”
“For the family.”
“You created the Black Serpent?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Her grandmother looked at Sebastian.
“His father.”
Evelyn frowned.
“Richard?”
“No.”
She pointed at the photograph of an unfamiliar man.
“This was the first Sterling patriarch.”
Evelyn stared.
“That isn't Thomas.”
“No.”
“Then who?”
The grandmother whispered:
“Edmund Sterling.”
Edmund Sterling.
The name appeared nowhere in modern Sterling records.
No grave.
No company history.
No photographs in the mansion.
It was as though the man had never existed.
But the black book told another story.
Edmund was the founder of the original empire.
And he had built it through a secret network of financiers, politicians, and enforcers.
The network eventually became known as the Black Serpent.
Thomas had inherited it.
Then tried to destroy it.
But Evelyn still didn't understand one thing.
“Why did Dad continue following your orders?”
Her grandmother looked toward the window.
“Because I had something he loved.”
Evelyn's blood ran cold.
“Who?”
“Your mother.”
Her mother closed her eyes.
“He threatened to kill me?”
“No.”
The grandmother shook her head.
“I threatened to expose her.”
“To whom?”
“The Black Serpent.”
Evelyn looked at her mother.
Her mother's face was devastated.
“What did you do?”
Her mother whispered:
“I stole money from them.”
“How much?”
“Enough to start a war.”
The grandmother continued.
“She took documents proving the network had infiltrated governments.”
“And Dad covered it up?”
“Yes.”
“To protect her?”
“Yes.”
Evelyn finally understood.
Her father had not become ruthless because he wanted power.
He had become ruthless because every attempt to escape the network put someone he loved in danger.
But that didn't absolve him.
It only explained him.
Evelyn turned another page.
Then stopped.
One final order.
It was dated twenty years ago.
The night her father supposedly died.
ORDER: REMOVE EVELYN STERLING FROM THE LINE OF SUCCESSION.
Her blood ran cold.
“Why?”
Her grandmother didn't answer.
“Why did he remove me?”
Silence.
Then her mother whispered:
“Because you were the only heir he believed could survive without becoming him.”
Evelyn looked up.
“What?”
“He wanted you to hate the Sterling name.”
“Why?”
“So you would never inherit it.”
“But I did.”
“Yes.”
Her mother began crying.
“That was the one thing he never expected.”
A noise came from outside.
A vehicle.
Then another.
The grandmother's expression changed.
“Too late.”
Evelyn turned.
“What?”
“They found us.”
Sebastian moved toward the window.
Black SUVs were climbing the mountain road.
“How many?”
“Too many.”
The grandmother closed the book.
“Take the archive.”
Evelyn grabbed it.
“Who are they?”
Her grandmother looked at her.
“The people your father spent twenty years running from.”
The lights in the mansion went out.
Gunfire erupted outside.
Sebastian pulled Evelyn behind a stone wall.
Their mother screamed.
Windows shattered.
Men rushed through the entrance.
The grandmother remained strangely calm.
She opened a hidden door beneath the floor.
“Go.”
Evelyn stared.
“What about you?”
“I've lived long enough.”
“No.”
The grandmother grabbed Evelyn's wrist.
“Listen to me.”
Her voice became urgent.
“Your father didn't order your death.”
“What?”
“He ordered your disappearance.”
“Why?”
“Because someone inside the family was going to kill you.”
“Who?”
The grandmother looked toward the doorway.
Then whispered:
“Gabriel.”
Evelyn froze.
“My brother?”
“He was the one Thomas feared most.”
Sebastian shook his head.
“No.”
The grandmother stared at him.
“He was trained to kill.”
“But he saved us.”
“Because he changed.”
Another explosion shook the mansion.
The grandmother pushed Evelyn toward the hidden passage.
“Find Gabriel.”
“Where?”
“He went after your father.”
“Where is Thomas?”
Her grandmother's eyes filled with tears.
“Under the original Sterling cathedral.”
Evelyn stared.
“Why?”
“Because that is where the first order was given.”
The grandmother pushed the door closed.
“Go!”
The three siblings' mother grabbed Evelyn.
They descended into darkness.
Behind them, the mansion erupted into chaos.
They emerged into the forest hours later.
Snow covered everything.
Evelyn held the black book tightly against her chest.
Her entire understanding of her father had changed.
Thomas had ordered terrible things.
But he had also sacrificed his reputation.
His empire.
His family.
Perhaps even his life.
All to protect them.
Or so she wanted to believe.
Sebastian walked beside her.
“I don't trust the grandmother.”
“Neither do I.”
“But?”
Evelyn looked at him.
“We have nowhere else to go.”
Their mother stopped.
She looked at Evelyn.
“There is something else.”
“What?”
“I lied about the night your father died.”
Evelyn's heart sank.
“What did you lie about?”
“I was there.”
“Where?”
“At the crash.”
Evelyn stared.
“You saw him?”
“Yes.”
“Was he alive?”
Her mother began crying.
“Yes.”
Evelyn's breathing stopped.
“What happened?”
“He looked at me.”
“And?”
“He told me to take you and run.”
“Why?”
“Because someone was coming.”
“Who?”
Her mother whispered:
“Your father wasn't running from the Black Serpent.”
She looked toward the mountains.
“He was running from the man who gave him every order.”
Evelyn's eyes narrowed.
“Who?”
Her mother answered:
“Edmund Sterling.”
Evelyn stared.
“But Edmund died decades ago.”
Her mother shook her head.
“No.”
A distant phone began ringing.
Evelyn answered.
A man's voice came through.
Old.
Calm.
Terrifying.
“Hello, Evelyn.”
She knew the voice.
She had heard it once before.
In the archives.
In her father's recordings.
The voice that had given Thomas his first order.
Evelyn whispered:
“Edmund?”
The man laughed.
“Your father told you I was dead.”
“Yes.”
“He was wrong.”
“Where are you?”
“Waiting.”
“For what?”
“For my family to come home.”
The call ended.
Evelyn looked at Sebastian.
Then at her mother.
The snow continued falling.
But Evelyn no longer felt cold.
May you like
Because somewhere beyond the mountains, the man who had ordered everything was alive.
And he had finally called his family home.
