Chapter 13 - Fall of the Matriarch
Croft did not move. He slowly took two steps backward, his hands held conspicuously away from his sidearm. ""My contract doesn't cover federal treason, Mrs. Vance.""
""Coward!"" Eleanor screamed, her aristocratic veneer completely disintegrating into hysterical rage. She cocked the hammer of the revolver herself, leveling the barrel directly between Clara’s eyes. ""I will not let a bastard child destroy my life!""
Julian moved before the thought could finish forming. He threw his weight across the console, grabbing Eleanor’s wrist and wrenching the weapon upward.
A deafening crack echoed through the server chamber. The bullet shattered an overhead sprinkler pipe, showering the room in cold, pressurized water.
Julian twisted Eleanor's wrist until the small revolver clattered across the wet slate floor. The matriarch fell to her knees, drenched in water, her immaculate silver hair plastered against her face like a spider’s web.
The heavy glass doors of the server suite were kicked open. Ross stormed in, followed by a tactical squad in full tactical gear, assault rifles trained on the remaining guards.
""Federal agents! Drop your weapons! Hands where we can see them!""
Croft and the guards instantly went to their knees with hands raised. Ross moved directly to Eleanor, pulling her up and snapping steel cuffs over her wrists with unyielding finality.
""Eleanor Vance, you are under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder, wire fraud, and the homicide of Marcus Vance,"" Ross recited in a deep, booming voice.
Eleanor glared up at Julian, her face contorted in sheer malice. ""You will die with nothing, Julian! You are a disgrace to this family!""
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Julian looked down at the woman he had called mother for thirty years. He felt no hatred, no anger—only a vast, hollow pity.
""I'm not a Vance,"" Julian said softly. ""And neither are you.""
