Chapter 10 - The Reckoning
Julian stopped five paces away, lowering the barrel of his shotgun slightly toward the floor. The heat from the burning timbers was blistering, the smoke thick enough to scorch the lungs, but he did not blink.
“It’s over, Victoria,” Julian said, his voice dropping into a register of chilling calm. “Your brother is in federal custody. The state police are raiding your father’s campaign offices as we speak. Every document, every wire transfer, every offshore account used to keep Elena hidden has been handed to the Attorney General.”
Victoria’s hand shook violently, the revolver trembling against Elena’s head. “Liar! My father is a United States Senator! He controls the courts! He controls you!”
“Not anymore,” Julian said, stepping forward half a pace. “Clara made it to the church, Victoria. Five hundred of the most powerful people in this country saw my daughter standing at the altar with my locket. There is no PR firm on earth that can bury what you did.”
Elena began to weep silently, her cracked lips whispering, “Clara… she found you? She survived?”
“She survived,” Julian answered, his eyes never leaving Victoria’s. “And Lily is safe. Both of our daughters are waiting for us.”
Victoria shrieked, an unearthly sound of pure hatred, and pulled the hammer back on the revolver. “Then you can join her in hell!”
Before she could squeeze the trigger, Julian brought his shotgun up and fired a non-lethal heavy beanbag round directly into Victoria’s right shoulder. The impact shattered her collarbone, hurling her backward into the blazing hearth. The revolver spun across the floorboards.
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Julian crossed the room in an instant. He sliced through the ropes binding Elena with a tactical knife, lifting her fragile, emaciated frame into his arms. Elena collapsed against his chest, sobbing uncontrollably as the roof beams above them groaned, threatening collapse.
“I have you,” Julian whispered into her hair, shielding her with his body as he turned toward the door. “I’m never letting you go again.”
