Chapter 4 - Blood Against Blood
Marcus lunged with the blinding speed of a man possessed by grief and unhinged protective fury.
His heavy hands clamped violently onto the collar of Julian’s soaked navy-blue dress shirt.
The wet fabric tore at the seams with a sharp, sickening rip that echoed across the marble terrace.
With a savage roar, Marcus shoved his younger brother backward, driving him hard across the slippery stone.
Julian’s boots skidded on the wet marble, his back slamming with bone-jarring force against the iron banquet railing.
Crystal glasses on the nearby table rattled and crashed to the floor, spraying expensive vintage champagne across their legs.
"Marcus, stop! Look at me! I am your brother!" Julian gasped, his hands clamping around Marcus’s forearms to keep from choking.
"You are nothing to me! You tried to kill my baby girl!" Marcus snarled, his face inches from Julian’s.
The billionaire shoved his forearm hard against Julian’s throat, pinning him against the decorative metalwork.
Julian had the size and athletic strength to strike back, but he deliberately kept his fists open, refusing to punch his brother.
"I didn't do this! Use your head, Marcus! Why would I ever hurt Elena?!" Julian choked out, straining against the suffocating pressure.
"Because you always hated that she would inherit the family trust instead of you!" Marcus spat, blind with rage.
Across the pool, guests gasps rose in a unified wave of horror as several men reached for their phones to record.
Elena dragged herself forward across the soaked stones on her hands and knees, tears burning her chlorine-stung eyes.
"Dad! Stop it! Let him go!" Elena screamed, her voice cracking with pure, desperate anguish.
The hem of her ruined gown caught under her knee, tearing the delicate satin, but she ignored the pain.
Victoria stood up slowly, smoothing the hips of her crimson gown with poised, sinister grace.
She took a subtle step backward into the shadows of the stone pillars, savoring the destruction unfolding before her eyes.
Her plan was working with sublime, terrifying perfection: Julian would be imprisoned, Elena would be traumatized, and Marcus would belong entirely to her.
Marcus pulled Julian forward by his shredded collar and shoved him again, sending him stumbling across a row of overturned chairs.
Julian hit the deck hard, rolling to avoid the shattered glass while holding his hands up in complete surrender.
"I saved her, Marcus! If I hadn't jumped in, she would have drowned at the bottom of that pool!" Julian yelled, wiping blood from a scraped wrist.
"You pushed her! My wife saw you!" Marcus screamed, advancing on his fallen brother with fists clenched once more.
Marcus raised his arm, preparing to drive a brutal punch into Julian’s unprotected face.
The crowd shrieked in anticipation of the impact, several women turning their faces away in horror.
Julian didn't flinch, his kind brown eyes staring directly into Marcus’s gray ones with heartbreaking sorrow.
"I love that girl more than my own life, Marcus, and you know it," Julian whispered hoarsely from the floor.
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The punch hung suspended in the humid Chicago night air, Marcus’s knuckles trembling with lethal hesitation.
Before the fist could descend, a soaking-wet figure threw herself directly between the two men.
