Chapter 76 - The Sins of the Father
The tension in the grand foyer was suffocating.
Rain lashed through the shattered front entrance, puddling around the dead mercenaries. The smell of burning thermite, cordite, and blood hung heavy in the damp air.
Margaret Montgomery pressed her back against the mahogany wall at the top of the stairs, her breath rattling in her throat. The revolver in her hand shook so violently that the barrel clicked against the wall.
"Julian...?" she gasped, her voice thinning to a terrified whimper. "My baby... you're... you're alive..."
"Don't call me that," Julian responded, his voice low, mechanical, and completely devoid of human warmth.
He reached up with a gauntleted hand and unlocked his helmet. The pressurized seal hissed, releasing a plume of cold vapor. He lifted the helmet off, revealing the battle-hardened, scarred visage of the Montgomery heir. His face was pale, his eyes deadened by chemical conditioning and cybernetic augments.
"You sold me, Mother," Julian said, taking slow, deliberate steps up the marble stairs. Each metallic stomp of his armored boots cracked the pristine stone beneath him. "You signed the transfer orders. You traded my life to Boreas to pay off your Swiss debt after Arthur’s accounts were frozen."
"I had to!" Margaret shrieked, tears of raw terror finally spilling down her powdered cheeks. "Arthur was insane! He was going to leak the entire Obsidian network! He was going to drag our family into the gutter! I did it to protect our name!"
"You did it to protect yourself," Claire interrupted, her twin sidearms still aimed directly at Julian's back.
Julian stopped on the landing, three steps below Margaret. He didn't turn around to face Claire, but he tilted his head, acknowledging her presence.
"Put the weapons down, Claire," Julian murmured. "Mother has to pay. You and I... we are the executioners she created."
"I came here to stop her, Julian," Claire said, her voice steady, despite the hurricane of emotion tearing through her chest. "I didn't come to execute her. She goes to a federal penitentiary. She spends the rest of her pathetic life in a ten-by-ten concrete box, stripped of every cent, every medal, every shred of honor she stole from our family."
Julian laughed. It was a cold, barking sound that sent shivers down Margaret’s spine.
"A prison?" Julian turned around, his dead gray eyes locking onto Claire. "Look at what she made me, Claire! Look at my skin! Look at the implants in my spine! Boreas didn't just train me—they rebuilt me! They carved out every memory of my childhood until only the mission remained! And the mission is clean."
Julian raised his carbine, pointing it straight at Margaret’s forehead.
"No!" Margaret sobbed, dropping to her knees. "Julian, please! I'm your mother!"
"Claire," Julian said, his finger tightening on the trigger. "If you stand between me and this kill... I will put a bullet through you. Bloodline means nothing to Boreas."
Claire took a deep breath. She lowered her left pistol, keeping her right weapon centered on the exposed base of Julian’s skull.
"Then Boreas lied to you," Claire said softly. "Because Arthur isn't your commander anymore, Julian. Look at your mission logs."
Julian frowned slightly, his tactical HUD flickering in his right iris. "What are you talking about?"
"The submarine in the Norwegian Sea," Claire stated, taking one step up the stairs. "The coordinates Vance and I were given didn't come from your father. Arthur Montgomery didn't survive the crash in Kyrgyzstan. He died on impact eighteen years ago."
Julian’s eye twitched. "Lies. Dad spoke to me before every deployment."
"It was an AI deep-fake, Julian! Boreas has been running on autonomous neural protocols since the Pentagon abandoned it!" Claire’s voice cracked with raw, emotional intensity. "The contractor who took over Boreas isn't our father. It’s Margaret’s holding company!"
Julian froze. His weapon lowered an inch.
Margaret’s face morphed from terror to a hideous, trapped desperation.
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"You didn't escape your mother, Julian," Claire whispered. "She didn't just sell you. She’s been the one giving you orders for the last ten years."
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