Chapter 10 - The Queen on the Board
Dominic did not release his grip on Julian immediately. He slowly turned his head. Standing by the blasted frame of the secret service door was a woman in a fitted black trench coat, holding Elena by the collar with a silenced submachine gun pressed to Elena’s temple.
It wasn't a mercenary. It was Victoria Sterling—Dominic's former business partner and the heiress to the Mediterranean freight syndicate.
"Victoria," Dominic said softly, his grip on Julian relaxing just enough to allow his brother to draw ragged, shallow breaths. "I wondered who provided Julian with the satellite jammers. He never had the intellect to acquire military hardware on his own."
Victoria smiled, a cold, glossy red smirk against her porcelain skin. "Julian is merely the blunt instrument, darling. You refused my proposal to merge our holdings. You thought you could retire to this hill and play the doting father while leaving me exposed to the Italian cartels. I couldn't allow that."
Elena was bleeding from a small cut on her cheek, her hands held up, but her eyes were fixed on Dominic, pleading with him not to surrender.
"Let the girl go, Victoria," Dominic said calmly. "She knows nothing. She's just domestic staff."
"Domestic staff don't bypass military thermite timers," Victoria countered, pressing the muzzle deeper into Elena's soft skin. "Drop your weapon, kick it over, and release Julian. Or I paint this lovely library wall with her brains."
Dominic looked at Elena. In her eyes, there was no pleading for mercy—only a silent, dangerous calculation. She subtly shifted her weight, nudging her left heel against the heavy brass grate beneath her feet.
Dominic understood instantly. It was the service intake valve for the basement heating furnace.
"You have five seconds, Dominic," Victoria warned, her manicured finger depressing the trigger slightly. "Five. Four..."
"Take her," Dominic said, letting go of Julian completely.
Julian collapsed to the rug, gasping for air, clutching his bruised neck.
May you like
Victoria gave a triumphant chuckle. "Good boy. Now get on your knees—"
Before she could finish the command, Elena drove her elbow backward into Victoria's stomach and stomped the heel of her shoe onto the release lever of the floor grate.
