Chapter 18 - The Blackout at Midnight
Emily looked at Marcus and Victoria. The unspoken communication between them was instantaneous. Marcus lowered the barrel of his rifle to the wet flagstones. Victoria’s teeth gritted in sheer agony as she allowed her Glock to drop, kicking it across the rain-slicked stones toward Julian’s mercenaries.
"Smart girls," Julian mocked, stepping forward slightly, the baby crying weakly against his chest, chilled by the freezing rain. "Now, Emily. Come here. On your knees."
Emily stepped forward, her boots splashing through pools of rainwater. Every muscle in her body screamed to lunge, to tear his throat out with her bare hands, but Clara was inches from death. She sank to her knees on the freezing stone, right where her own wedding gown had once pooled in her own blood.
Julian looked down at her with triumphant, sadistic pleasure. "You thought you won when the jury read that verdict. You thought a courtroom could hold a god. You were always so naive, Emily. So pathetically vulnerable to the illusion of safety."
He signaled to his mercenary on the left. "Secure them. Put a bullet in the sister’s head first. Let Emily watch."
The mercenary raised his suppressed submachine gun, taking aim at Victoria’s forehead.
*CLICK.*
The digital clock tower in the center of Blackwood Castle struck midnight. The deep, resonant chime of the bronze bell echoed across the valley.
*BOOM.*
Suddenly, the sky didn't light up with lightning, but with the blinding, deafening roar of a flashbang grenade detonating not on the terrace, but directly *beneath* the floorboards.
The concussion wave threw Julian’s mercenaries off their feet. Marcus didn't hesitate; he lunged through the blinding white flash, tackling the first armed guard over the balustrade. The two men plunged together into the roaring black void four stories below, their screams swallowed by the storm.
Victoria, despite her shattered shoulder, dove for her dropped pistol, rolling across the stone, firing three consecutive rounds into the chest of the second mercenary before he could recover his weapon. The man collapsed dead against the castle wall.
Emily surged up from the ground like a vengeful specter, launching herself straight at Julian.
Julian twisted, instinctively shielding Clara with his body, but Emily wasn't aiming for the child—she slammed her entire body weight into Julian’s right arm, driving him back against the fractured stone rail. The detonator flew from Julian’s hand, clattering harmlessly into the dark void.
"Give me my baby!" Emily screamed, sinking her fingernails into Julian’s throat.
Julian snorted in rage, swinging his heavy elbow into Emily’s cheek, sending her crashing onto her back. He turned toward the service stairs to escape with Clara, but Victoria was already there, blocking the doorway, her gun leveled at his eyes.
"End of the line, Julian," Victoria gasped, blood dripping from her shoulder. "Put Clara down, or I blow your skull into the Hudson."
Julian froze. He stood trapped between two sisters who had survived his worst horrors. He slowly looked down at the infant in his arms, then back at Victoria.
A terrifying, chilling smile crossed Julian’s lips. "If I can't have the Vance empire," he whispered, "no one will."
May you like
With a sudden, violent heave, Julian threw Clara high over the shattered balcony railing, hurling the infant out into the freezing, empty abyss.
***
