Chapter 10 - The Second Circle
The sound of shattering glass tore through the rear wing of the mansion. Julian instinctively pushed Lily deeper behind him into the dining room, shielding her with his body as Eleanor pulled the child beneath the heavy mahogany table.
"Marcus, who is behind this?" Julian demanded, sweeping up Vance's discarded pistol from the console table and checking the magazine with practiced efficiency. "If Claire was the pawn, who holds the board?"
Claire was on her knees, desperately scrambling to gather the loose bonds, her manicured fingers bleeding against the paper edges. "It wasn't supposed to happen like this! He said he just wanted the donor records! He promised I would keep the liquid bonds!"
"Who, Claire?!" Julian bellowed, grabbing her by the collar of her silk gown and hauling her to her feet. The delicate fabric ripped at the seam, exposing her trembling collarbone. "Give me a name!"
"Arthur Ward," Marcus answered for her, stepping to the side of the grand archway and peering through the rain-lashed courtyard. "Chairman of the Sterling Board. Your dearest mentor, Julian. The man who guided you into the CEO seat after Father's death."
Julian felt as if the air had been violently sucked from the earth. Arthur Ward had been at Lily’s christening. He had held Julian’s hand at Victoria’s funeral. He was the pillar of the conglomerate.
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"Arthur has been systematically draining the offshore subsidiaries for five years," Marcus explained coldly, adjusting his sights toward the garden terrace. "He needed Father’s original codicil to prove the estate was in probate limbo, which would force a liquidation of the company assets. Claire was his inside key."
Suddenly, the house went pitch black. The chandeliers died. The hum of the estate generators sputtered and died into dead silence. From the back corridors, heavy, synchronized footsteps echoed on the floorboards.
