The Last Successor

07. The Severed Bond

The heavy air inside the small living room felt tight enough to choke a man.

Outside the glass window, the gray sky poured a steady wall of rain over the city. It casting gloomy shadows across the worn wooden floorboards.

Inside the room, the quiet was broken only by angry breaths of Raymond Sterling. He sat on the faded fabric sofa. His arms crossed over his chest. Even with the thick white medical bandage wrapped tightly around his jaw, a cruel, mocking smirk twisted his lips.

Next to him sat Vivian Sterling, the mother-in-law Adrian had served without complaint for three long years. She kept her arms folded tightly against her silk blouse. Her eyes fixed on the damp floor with absolute disgust as if Adrian’s very presence polluted the air she breathed.

In the center of the room, Edward Sterling sat on the single high-backed armchair like a king on a throne. The patriarch of the family held his posture completely rigid. His hands resting heavily on the silver handle of his walking cane. He radiated the unyielding authority of a man who believed his local wealth gave him the power of life and death over others.

Across the room, two men in immaculate gray business suits sat at the small dining table. Their dark leather briefcases stood open, and between them lay a thick, crisp stack of white papers. Those documents represented the total destruction of a three-year marriage.

Elena Sterling stood entirely apart from them all.

She stood by the large window, her back turned to the family. Her arms crossed as she stared blankly at the heavy raindrops smashing against the glass. Her long black hair fell over her shoulders, hiding whatever expression lay on her face.

Adrian Veyron stood near the entrance of the apartment. He had not sat down since he walked through the door. His cheap suit was damp from the storm. His hands were loose at his sides.

Adrian looked at the family members who had treated him like an animal. For three entire years, he had been the one to wake up at dawn to cook their meals, clean their floors, drive them to their meetings, and endure their endless insults.

He had done it all to honor the final words of his own father. His father who had always believed that a truly strong man maintains the peace, works hard, and keeps his heart pure no matter how dark the world becomes.

But looking at them now, Adrian realized that some people did not deserve peace.

"Just sign the damn papers," Raymond muttered.

His voice sounding thick and muffled because of the bandage on his jaw. He glared at Adrian with pure hatred.

"Stop wasting our time, Adrian. You have brought nothing but terrible luck to this house since the day you crawled into it. Look at my face!" He said angrily.

"Look at the absolute scandal Chloe’s live stream is causing among our social circles this morning! Every conglomerate in the city is laughing at us because of you. You are a virus to the Sterling family name."

"Raymond, be quiet and let the legal team do their work," Edward said coldly.

He raising one hand to silence his son. He turned his piercing eyes toward Adrian. His voice dropping into a deep tone of absolute dismissal.

"Adrian, this divorce is final. We have tolerated your complete lack of ambition and your failing little delivery service for three years only because of a promise I made to a dying old man. But last night was the limit." He stopped for a while.

"Knocking my son to the floor and turning my milestone birthday party into a public circus is the final straw. Sign the documents, take the twelve thousand dollars you knelt and scraped from the floor last night, and never step foot into our commercial district again."

Adrian remained completely silent.

The room was so quiet that the steady ticking of the old mechanical watch on his left wrist seemed to grow louder. He did not look angry. He did not look broken.

Adrian walked slowly toward the dining table. His cheap leather shoes squeaking slightly from the rainwater. He looked down at the thick stack of papers. The bold letters at the top read: Decree of Absolute Divorce and Total Relinquishment of Marital Assets.

"Adrian," Elena’s clear voice suddenly cut through the heavy silence of the room.

She still did not turn around to face him, keeping her eyes fixed on the rainy street outside. "Just sign it. It is honestly the best thing for you now. My father and Raymond will only make your life a living hell in this city if you try to stay married to me."

Elena slightly bites her won lips, "I have already instructed the legal team to add a special clause to the contract. You will privately receive an additional fifty thousand dollars once the court processes these papers. It will be more than enough to move your mother to a better private hospital room and cover her treatments for the rest of the year."

Adrian looked at Elena's pale reflection in the glass window. A faint humorless smile appeared on his lips.

"Fifty thousand dollars," he thought to himself. His mind remarkably calm.

"To her and her entire family, everything in this human life can be settled with a price tag. She honestly thinks she is saving me from hardship. She does not realize she is just using her father’s money to buy a clean conscience for her own guilt."

"I do not need your extra money, Elena," Adrian said aloud.

His voice was smooth and steady, completely devoid of the hurt or rage they expected to hear. He looked up. His gray eyes clear and deep.

"Keep that fifty thousand dollars for the Sterling Group. From what I recall of your internal logistics reports last month, your company's cash flow is going to need every single penny very soon."

Raymond slammed his fist hard against the arm of the fabric sofa.

His face turning red with anger, "You piece of garbage! You dare curse our family company? We are a top-tier conglomerate in this city, a household name! You are just a pathetic delivery rat who lives from hand to mouth!"

Adrian did not bother to answer the insult. He reached out and picked up the heavy, silver-trimmed Montblanc pen provided by the lawyer. Without a single tremor in his hand--showing no hesitation whatsoever, he swept the pen across the final page, signing his name in bold, clean strokes.

Adrian Veyron.

He dropped the heavy pen onto the paper. The metallic click of the pen rolling against the desk echoed sharply in the quiet room.

"It is done," Adrian said.

His voice cold as he looked directly into Edward Sterling’s eyes, "From this second onward, we are complete strangers."

Vivian Sterling let out a loud and dramatic sigh of relief.

She throwing her hands up in the air, "Finally! The curse is lifted from our house. Go on, pack your cheap, dirty rags from the closet and get out of my sight forever."

Adrian turned toward the small hallway bedroom to grab the simple canvas duffel bag he had already packed the night before. But before his foot could touch the floorboard, a sudden, thunderous vibration shook the entire apartment building. The glass window panes rattled violently in their frames, and dust drifted down from the ceiling.

Outside, a massive deep sound filled the narrow street below. It was the synchronized, roaring rumble of multiple high-powered engines moving in perfect unison through the storm.