Chapter 14 - Sins of the Matriarch
The silence between mother and son was more terrifying than the sirens. Eleanor’s platinum hair was disheveled, rain dripping from the hem of her designer coat, but her hands were steady on the revolver.
""Step away from the console, Julian,"" Eleanor commanded, her voice trembling with despair. ""Step away and let the purge finish.""
""You would kill your own son?"" Julian asked, stepping between his mother’s gun and Lois, who was desperately unhooking Clara from the monitor cables.
""I am saving our family!"" Eleanor cried out, tears cutting tracks through her makeup. ""Burke’s father has federal indictments prepared for all of us! If this facility is found intact, the Thorne name will be erased from history! You, your brother, me... we will die in federal prison!""
""Let it burn, then,"" Julian said softly, taking a deliberate step toward the barrel of the gun. ""Let the Thorne name rot. If our fortune was built on the blood of stolen children and murdered fathers, it deserves to turn to dust.""
""Don't test me, Julian!"" Eleanor shrieked, cocking the hammer. ""I won't let you destroy us for a common nurse!""
""She isn't a common nurse, Mother,"" Julian said, his eyes drilling into Eleanor’s soul. ""She is the woman who survived you. And you will never touch her again.""
A gunshot tore through the chamber.
Eleanor gasped, looking down in shock at a bloom of red spreading across her ivory sleeve. Behind her, Jack Morales stood leaning against the doorframe, smoke curling from the barrel of his shotgun.
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Eleanor dropped the silver pistol, collapsing to her knees as federal sirens began echoing down the mountain road outside.
Christian Burke, crawling on his belly toward the exit, looked up just in time to see Julian’s heavy combat boot come crashing down upon his outstretched hand, crushing the surgeon's fingers beneath his heel.
