Chapter 36 - Whispers Across the Atlantic
The sight of my mother crumpled on the floor in front of me sent a wave of nausea through my stomach. For months, I had hated her. I had hated her cruelty, her calculated insults at Christmas, her desperate attempt to strip my child of her future. But seeing her now, stripped of her wealth, shivering in terror beneath the boots of international syndicate enforcers, felt like staring into an open grave.
"Eleanor," Julian said smoothly, stepping around the mahogany desk and looming over her. "Your daughter claims you possess the 1840 German Bible. Is that correct?"
Eleanor flinched violently, shrinking away from Julian as if his very shadow burned her skin. "I... I don't have it! I swear on my life, Vance! I left it in the study safe before the sheriffs came! Arthur changed the combinations! Arthur took it!"
"She's lying!" Arthur shouted, his voice cracking. "She sold it to an antiquities dealer in Boston to finance her lawyers!"
"Quiet!" Julian snapped. His voice was not loud, but it carried the absolute finality of a gunshot. Both Arthur and Eleanor fell instantly silent, cowering like beaten dogs.
Julian looked at Mark, then at me. "One of you is lying. And unfortunately for all of you, I have neither the time nor the inclination to play family arbitrator. My transport departs from the private airfield at 4:00 AM. If the primal registry is not secured by 3:30, I will execute the containment protocol."
"What containment protocol?" Mark demanded, stepping between Julian and Eleanor.
Julian smiled, a cold, bloodless expression. "A controlled thermite detonation in the basement. It will simulate a natural gas explosion. Black Ridge will burn to the bedrock. You, your treacherous mother, your lying uncle, and your child will be reduced to ash. And the registry, destroyed or not, will no longer threaten the Directorate's balance sheets."
"You're a monster," I said, my teeth clenched so hard my jaw ached.
"I am an administrator, Sarah," Julian corrected calmly. "Now. I give you fifteen minutes to confer among yourselves. Find that Bible, or select the order in which you wish to die."
May you like
Julian gestured to his guards. They backed out of the library, pulling the heavy double doors shut. The heavy iron lock engaged from the outside with a deafening *thud*.
We were trapped inside our own library, surrounded by armed mercenaries, with less than an hour before total destruction.
