Chapter 8 - The Price of Loyalty
A deafening crack echoed through the confined room, but it didn't come from the operator's weapon.
The second guard collapsed forward, a neat hole punched through his temple. Behind him in the doorway stood Chad Sterling, holding Charles’s discarded .38 revolver with two shaking hands. Smoke curled from the barrel.
Elena froze, her knife poised in mid-air. For a moment, nobody moved. The arrogant, spoiled groom who had threatened her with a golf club thirty minutes ago was now covered in white plaster dust, tears streaking his bruised face.
""Chad?"" Elena said, her voice dangerously calm.
""He was going to kill my mother,"" Chad whispered, his voice trembling so hard his teeth clicked. ""Julian... he told my father that if the merger went wrong, he’d burn our estate with my mother inside. Dad agreed to it. Dad was going to let her die just to keep his offshore accounts.""
Elena studied him. Chad was weak, cowardly, and abusive, but in the final equation of survival, the Sterling family rot had eaten itself from the inside out.
""Where is your father now?"" Elena asked.
""He ran,"" Chad choked out, lowering the gun. ""He took the underground utility tunnel that connects to the subway system. Julian’s men are escorting him. They have my mother, Elena. Please... you took everything from us, but don't let them kill her.""
Elena walked slowly toward Chad. She reached out, her fingers wrapping firmly around the cylinder of the revolver, gently pulling it from his trembling grasp.
""Your mother covered for your father’s crimes for thirty years, Chad,"" Elena said quietly. ""She knew what he was. She knew what you were.""
""She’s still my mother!"" Chad sobbed.
Elena checked the chamber of the revolver. Four rounds left. She looked at her father, who had retrieved an assault rifle from one of the fallen Vance guards.
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""The subway tunnel leads to the private cargo rail under the old industrial district,"" Vincent said, cocking the weapon. ""Julian isn't running to escape. He's running to his vault.""
Elena adjusted her ripped wedding gown, kicking off her crystal-encrusted heels to reveal bare feet that moved silently across the cold stone. ""Then let's make sure he never opens it.""
