Chapter 20 - The Void Beneath the Deep
Clara broke through the surface of the water, gasping for air, dragging an unconscious Maya onto the wooden slip. She hit Maya’s chest with two heavy palm strikes. Maya violently coughed up a lungful of lake water, gasping, her eyes fluttering open.
"Breathe, Maya! I've got you!" Clara cried, pulling her friend onto the dry dock.
Above them on the main metal platform, a brutal life-or-death struggle was reaching its climax. Julian had Victoria pinned against the railing, his forearm crushing her throat. The detonator had fallen between the metal slats, sinking harmlessly into the dark water below.
"It’s over, Victoria!" Julian snarled, his face covered in blood from a graze wound on his temple. "You lost! Everyone survives tonight except your twisted empire!"
Victoria, her face smeared with black hydraulic oil and blood, looked at Julian. But instead of fear, a slow, terrifying, unhinged grin spread across her lips.
"Did I lose, Julian?" she wheezed, her hand sliding quietly into the interior pocket of her tactical vest. "You always were so sentimental. You thought the trap was the cage. You thought the trap was the fuel."
Julian’s eyes widened in sudden, horrifying realization. "What did you do?!"
"Dwight Penitentiary... the cosmetic clinic... the safe house..." Victoria whispered, her bloody teeth gleaming under the halogen lights. "Who do you think authorized my escape codes, Julian? Who do you think paid off the guards?"
From the shadows of the boathouse entrance behind them, the heavy click of a shotgun echoed through the cavernous space.
Detective Miller stepped forward onto the metal walkway. But he wasn't aiming his weapon at Victoria.
His shotgun was pointed directly at the back of Julian’s head.
"Step away from your sister, Mr. Montgomery," Detective Miller said, his voice completely flat, cold, and devoid of any humanity.
Clara froze on the lower dock, holding Maya, her blood turning to ice. "Miller?! What are you doing?!"
Miller didn't even look at Clara. "Your father’s offshore trust wasn't meant for you, Julian. And it wasn't meant for Victoria. It was designed to fund the foundation that protects men like me. Victoria was just the hammer I used to break your family apart. Now step away... or Master Leo in Colorado won't make it to his second birthday."
Julian stared at Miller, then down at Victoria, who was laughing uncontrollably on the floor.
At that exact moment, the high-pitched beep of a military-grade satellite phone in Miller’s tactical vest chirped three times. Miller glanced at the screen, and his finger tightened on the trigger.
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"The Colorado safe house has been breached," Miller whispered. "Say goodbye to the Montgomery name."
Julian lunged forward—a deafening blast echoed through the boathouse—and Clara screamed as Julian’s body tumbled over the railing, plummeting into the black, bottomless abyss of the lake.
