Chapter 5 - Blood on the Marble
The red penlight in Marcus's hand quivered slightly, casting a bloody halo across Julian’s wild, desperate eyes. Julian stood in the narrow corridor, Lauren crouching nervously behind him, her golden dress smeared with dust from the wall.
""Step away from the stairs, Dad,"" Julian breathed, his finger whitening against the trigger. ""You’re giving me the master cipher to the offshore accounts right now, or Clara watches her savior die before she loses the baby.""
Clara clutched the hidden pendant in her coat pocket. The metal was burning hot against her fingers, humming with a strange, faint vibration she had never noticed before in all the years she had worn it.
""You always lacked patience, Julian,"" Marcus said, entirely unbothered by the gun against his skull. ""Your greed blinds you to the simplest realities. Look at Lauren. Look at her eyes.""
Julian didn't blink. ""Don't try to play mind games with me—""
""Look at her, you fool!"" Marcus snapped.
Julian flicked his eyes toward Lauren for a fraction of a second. That split second was all it took. Lauren’s delicate hand plunged into the fold of her golden skirt, pulling out a slim, suppressed automatic.
Without a word, without a change in her flat expression, Lauren pulled the trigger.
The muffled crack was followed by Julian’s choked gasp. The revolver dropped from his limp fingers, clattering loudly against the stone floor. Julian looked down in horror at the dark crimson blooming across his white shirt, right over his heart. He staggered backward, his mouth working silently, before collapsing onto the polished marble with a sickening thud.
""Julian!"" Clara screamed, instinctively lurching forward despite the agonizing contraction ripping through her.
Lauren stepped over Julian’s twitching body, her gun now aimed squarely at Clara’s chest.
""He was useful for bypassing the estate's firewalls,"" Lauren said coldly, her polite mask completely discarded. ""A weak, pathetic boy who thought a pretty smile meant true love. But he served his purpose. Now, Clara, hand over the Cygnus Key.""
""The key?"" Clara stammered, backed against the dark mouth of the spiral staircase.
""The pendant in your pocket,"" Lauren hissed, stepping closer. ""Give it to me, or I take it off your corpse.""
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A violent tremor shook the foundation of the house as an explosive charge blew the main foyer doors off their hinges behind them. Footsteps and shouted commands flooded the grand hall.
Lauren glanced back in panic toward the sound. In that instant, Marcus lunged forward, throwing his entire weight against Lauren. Both of them tumbled over the threshold, down into the pitch-black abyss of the spiral stairs.
