Chapter 2 - Fortress of Silence
""You didn't think I would leave things to chance, did you?"" Beatrice murmured, smoothing the fabric of her beaded black gown as Julian backed slowly down the marble stairs.
Julian stepped between the armed guards and Elena, keeping his eyes on the chief of security, Marcus Cole—a man his late father had hired two decades ago. ""Marcus, stand down. She just tried to murder my son. You’re crossing a line you can never walk back from.""
Marcus kept his face expressionless, his hand firm on his sidearm. ""My contract is with Madam Hawthorne, Julian. My orders are simple: ensure no one leaves until the estate transfer papers are signed.""
""What papers?"" Julian’s blood ran cold.
Beatrice glided down the staircase like a ghost gliding over water. From her designer clutch, she pulled a single leather folder containing legal documents stamped with the seal of the family’s offshore trusts.
""You forfeit everything,"" Beatrice said, holding out a gold pen. ""Your company shares, your grandfather’s trust fund, and full parental custody of that bastard. Sign it, and Elena leaves alive with the boy to a quiet life abroad. Refuse, and the coroners will report a tragic home invasion where only the matriarch survived.""
Elena clutched baby Leo tighter, pressing kisses into his forehead while weeping silently. ""Julian, don't listen to her. She'll never let us walk out of here alive.""
Julian weighed the distance between himself and Marcus. Three trained operators, locked doors, severed communications. If he attacked now, a stray bullet could hit Leo. He looked into Beatrice’s pitiless eyes.
""Give me the pen,"" Julian said flatly.
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Elena gasped in horror, ""Julian, no!""
He reached out, fingers brushing the heavy gold pen. But as his fingertips gripped the metal, the estate’s power grid hummed violently. The entire ground floor plunged into pitch-black darkness, and from the grand skylight above came the deafening sound of shattering reinforced glass.
