Chapter 3 - Seeds of Poison
The accusation hung in the opulent air like a freshly sharpened guillotine. Clara frowned, instinctively reaching into the inner breast pocket of the bespoke cashmere coat Arthur had wrapped around her shoulders. Her fingers brushed against smooth silk, then closed around a cold, hard metallic object. She pulled it out slowly, holding it up into the blinding glare of the crystal chandeliers.
It was not Victoria’s stolen diamond ring.
It was a signet ring made of dark obsidian and engraved with a serpent swallowing a crescent moon—an unmistakable crest that belonged exclusively to the House of Sterling, the blood rival of the Vance dynasty.
Arthur’s calm, impenetrable mask fractured for a split second. A flash of genuine shock crossed his stern face before his jaw tightened into steel.
"How did that get in there?" Eleanor whispered, eyes darting between Arthur and the ring. A sinister murmur began to rise from the edges of the ballroom. The socialites, once terrified of Arthur’s arrival, suddenly smelled blood in the water.
Victoria let out a blood-curdling laugh from between the two security officers restraining her. "You thought my mother and I were acting alone? You walked straight into our parlor, Arthur! The Sterling family has already seized your private vaults in Geneva! By morning, the Vance dynasty is bankrupt!"
Before Arthur could give an order, the main electrical grid of the estate died with a horrifying pop. Total darkness plunged the ballroom into screaming chaos. Women shrieked, glasses shattered on marble, and the deafening roar of automatic weapons chambering rounds echoed from the upper balconies.
"Get down!" Lucas roared, throwing himself forward to shield Clara and Arthur. Red laser sights danced wildly across the darkness, cutting through the shadows like spiderwebs of death.
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Clara felt a pair of gloved hands grab her wrist with crushing force. She tried to pull away, but a damp, chemical-scented rag was pressed hard against her nose and mouth. Her vision spun violently as the smell of chloroform overwhelmed her senses.
As her consciousness slipped away into the void, the last thing she heard was her father's desperate, agonized roar: "CLARA!"
