Chapter 6 - The Will of the Patriarch
The figure holding the gun stood tall beneath the pale moonlight, surrounded by the tangled vines of the winter garden. Her silver evening gown was torn at the hem, splattered with mud, but Victoria’s gaze burned with rabid, unhinged triumph.
Beside her stood Julian, holding a heavy crowbar, blood trickling from his broken nose where Ethan had struck him earlier.
""Did you really believe an old man and a sick child could outrun my payout, Ethan?"" Victoria sneered, cocking the silencer against his skull. Her knuckles were bruised, her immaculate hair ruined, but the madness in her eyes gave her monstrous energy. ""The Syndicate paid fifty million dollars for the North Vance shipping routes. That money was supposed to be my severance from this rotten family!""
Ethan did not move. He kept Lily firmly cradled under his left arm, his body wedged in the narrow coal chute opening, blocking Marcus behind him. The icy wind howled through the garden, chilling the sweat on Ethan's temples.
""You won't shoot,"" Ethan said with chilling indifference.
""Try me!"" Victoria shrieked, the gun trembling against his skin. ""I already signed the death warrants! The coroner will report that Ethan Vance murdered Marcus in a drunken dispute over the family fortune, suffocated the bastard child, and died of smoke inhalation! The narrative is airtight!""
""Except for one detail,"" Ethan whispered.
From inside his coat, Lily reached out. She wasn't crying now; her pale face had set into a mask of uncanny calmness, the ancient bloodline of the Vance ironmasters waking within her. In her tiny, mud-stained fingers, she held the blue-wax parchment she had guarded with her life.
Victoria’s gaze flicked to the paper, and her jaw dropped. ""Where... where did you get that?""
""My father didn't give this to my brother,"" Ethan said, his voice ringing across the frozen lawn. ""He gave it to Lily’s mother before he took his last breath. You spent five years tearing up the estate looking for the true deed to the family trust. You tore apart the floorboards, you raided the bank vaults, you burned down the lake house. But you forgot the most basic rule my father taught us.""
Ethan slowly stood up, pushing past the silencer. Victoria, paralyzed by the sight of the wax seal, took an involuntary step back.
""A Vance never hides treasure in gold,"" Ethan quoted, his eyes locking onto Julian’s terrified face. ""We bury it in iron. And this parchment isn't a deed. It's the original confession signed by Julian’s father, detailing how you orchestrated the yacht explosion that killed the old Patriarch.""
Julian’s face went bone-white. He dropped the crowbar with a clatter against the flagstones. ""Victoria... you told me my father died of a stroke.""
Victoria spun on Julian, frantic. ""He's lying! He’s trying to divide us! Pick up the iron and crush his skull, Julian!""
Instead, Julian backed away into the shadows of the greenhouse, shaking his head in horror.
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""You used me,"" Julian choked out. ""You made me an accomplice to my own father's murder.""
Before Victoria could pull the trigger on Ethan in pure rage, a blinding beam of light illuminated the garden from the clouds above. The deafening roar of twin helicopter blades flattened the shrubbery, kicking up a cyclone of dead leaves and frost.
