Chapter 23 - bloodlines of venom
The revelation slammed into Clara like a physical blow. The air rushed out of her lungs, leaving her gasping for breath against Roman’s arm. "Julian... is my half-brother?"
"No," the woman said, her voice dropping into a razor-sharp whisper. "Julian is Gregory’s blood, raised as a weapon. When your father found out that Gregory and I had an illegitimate child years before our marriage, he threatened to destroy the Sterling name forever. He sabotaged the fuel lines on that jet, Clara. He meant to kill me, Gregory, and the secret all at once."
"Then how did you survive?" Roman demanded, his weapon never wavering an inch. His tactical instincts were screaming; something about the layout of the room felt wrong. The scent of ozone was faint, almost masked by the cedar.
"Gregory had an informant in your father's ground crew," the woman continued, her eyes fixed entirely on Clara. "We switched tail numbers thirty minutes before departure. Two innocent mechanics flew that plane into the sea. Gregory held that crime over your father's head for two decades. That was how he bled the family dry. Every mortgage, every transfer of stock, every signature—your father gave it up to keep his holy reputation clean."
"And you let him do it," Clara said, tears running hot down her cheeks. "You let Gregory take everything. You let Julian treat me like dirt on his shoe."
"I had no power, Clara! Gregory kept me locked away in an offshore sanitarium in Geneva until his arrest three weeks ago!" The woman rose abruptly from the velvet chair, her hands trembling as she reached toward Clara. "When Roman brought Julian down, the guards deserted the facility. I came straight back to Chicago. I sent the courier because the key in your pocket is the only thing that can finish this!"
"Stop moving," Roman snapped, his finger tightening slightly on the trigger. "Clara, don't step closer."
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"Look at her, Roman! She's my mother!" Clara cried, torn between agonizing doubt and decades of buried grief.
"Look at her neck," Roman said, his voice deadly calm. "Clara. Look at her throat."
