Chapter 11 - Cornered in the Rain
""You're dead,"" Elena whispered, backing slowly against the steel walls of the booth. ""We buried an empty casket. Julian wept at your funeral.""
Vivienne chuckled, a dry, aristocratic sound devoid of warmth. ""Julian wept because he is a sentimental boy who thought he was playing the lead role. He was never anything more than a guard dog, Elena. Just like Arthur.""
""You killed Dad,"" Elena said, her voice dropping into a register of cold fury.
""Thomas was weak,"" Vivienne replied without blinking. ""He wanted to dissolve the trust, distribute the wealth into public foundations. He was going to leave us with scraps. The Sterlings provided a necessary consolidation. And Julian was supposed to keep you docile until your twenty-fifth birthday, when the final trust activates.""
""And then?"" Elena asked, surreptitiously slipping her hand into her pocket toward her own weapon.
""And then you would have suffered a tragic, hereditary heart failure, leaving everything to me,"" Vivienne said smoothly. ""Now, slide that thumb drive across the floor, Elena. Don't make this messy.""
Outside, thunder crashed, shaking the foundation of the old bank. Rain began to hammer against the high clerestory windows above the lobby.
Elena looked her mother dead in the eye. ""Arthur taught me one thing before he fell.""
""And what was that?""
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""Never negotiate with the monster in the room.""
Elena whipped the suppressed sidearm from her coat and fired. The bullet struck the doorframe inches from Vivienne’s cheek, sending sparks into the darkness. Vivienne fired back, the round grazing Elena’s shoulder as Elena dove forward, tackling her mother into the marble lobby.
