Chapter 4 - The Threat of the Matriarch
By the afternoon, Diego had been released on a $10,000 bond. The terms of his release were strict: he was fitted with a GPS ankle monitor, barred from consuming alcohol, and ordered to maintain absolute radio silence regarding me.
But the protection order applied only to Diego. It didn't apply to his mother.
I was back at my Capitol Hill condominium, the front door now reinforced with a newly installed deadbolt and a smart doorbell camera. I had just finished changing into comfortable clothes when the delivery notification on my phone chimed. I looked at the camera feed.
Victoria Sterling was standing in the hallway outside my door. She wasn't wearing her usual designer gown; she was in a sharp tweed suit, her face taut with a mixture of fury and desperation. She didn't ring the bell. She knocked, hard and rhythmic.
I walked to the door but didn't open it. "Victoria. You need to leave. The police have already been involved, and I will call them again."
"Valerie, open this door right now!" her voice hissed through the wood, stripped of all its usual upper-class refinement. "You have gone entirely too far. You have humiliated our family. Diego is facing felony charges! Do you have any idea what this will do to his career? To our standing in the community?"
"Diego did this to himself when he threw a plate at my head," I said loudly, my voice echoing in the quiet hallway.
"It was a minor domestic dispute!" Victoria yelled back, abandoning all attempts at civility. "Men lose their tempers! Your own father probably lost his temper! You provoked him with your stubbornness. If you had just been a dutiful daughter-in-law and agreed to let me use this apartment, none of this would have happened!"
I pulled out my phone and quietly pressed record, capturing her tirade through the door.
"Listen to me, you ungrateful little girl," Victoria continued, her voice dropping to a menacing whisper that carried perfectly through the door crack. "The Sterling family has deep roots in this city. We know judges. We know politicians. If you proceed with this divorce and these ridiculous charges, we will ruin you. We will ensure no architectural firm in Colorado ever hires you again. We will drag your name through the mud until you have nothing left. Withdraw the charges. Tell the DA it was an accident, sign over the condo as compensation for the damage you've caused our family, and we will let you walk away with your career intact. Otherwise, we will destroy you."
I took a deep breath, keeping my voice cold and clear for the recording. "Are you threatening me, Victoria?"
"I am promising you," she snarled. "You are nothing compared to us. Don't forget that."
Hearing enough, I spoke into the smart home intercom. "Victoria, I am currently recording this conversation. Furthermore, I have already sent a live video feed to my attorney. If you are not off my property in exactly sixty seconds, the Denver Police will arrest you for harassment and witness intimidation."
There was a sudden, sharp intake of breath on the other side of the door. Through the peephole, I watched Victoria’s face drain of color as she realized she had just handed me a loaded weapon. She backed away from the door, her heels clicking rapidly down the tiled hallway as she practically fled toward the elevator.
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Ten minutes later, the audio file was in Evelyn’s inbox.
Within an hour, Evelyn filed an emergency motion for an expanded protection order to include Victoria and Arthur Sterling, citing active witness intimidation. The trap was beginning to close around them, and they were too arrogant to realize they were walking right into it.
