Chapter 2 - The Return of the Exiled Son
Darkness was closing in around Clara’s vision as her lungs burned for lack of oxygen.
Then, a thunderous roar tore through the humid afternoon air like a crack of lightning striking a dry forest.
“DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH MY SISTER!”
The voice was filled with such primal fury that several guests jumped back in sheer terror.
A tall, broad-shouldered man came sprinting through the wrought-iron garden gates at breakneck speed.
It was Lucas Sterling, Clara’s twenty-seven-year-old older brother, who had been unjustly exiled from the family estate two long years ago.
He did not stop to take off his heavy combat boots, nor did he discard his fitted black jacket.
Lucas leaped directly from the raised terrace into the air, cutting through the space with athletic precision.
He broke the water with a thunderous dive that sent waves cascading over the feet of the horrified guests.
Beneath the water, Lucas opened his eyes and immediately spotted his sister’s sinking silhouette.
With powerful strokes, he closed the distance in a fraction of a second and locked his strong arm around her waist.
Clara felt the sudden warmth of safety and instinctively clutched his drenched clothing.
Lucas kicked upward toward the sunlight with immense power, breaching the surface with an explosive gasp of air.
He quickly dragged Clara to the edge of the pool, lifting her upper body carefully onto the dry marble ledge.
Clara lay on her side, coughing violently as torrents of chlorinated water poured from her throat.
Lucas scrambled out of the pool instantly, his water-drenched black hair pushed back from a face hardened by military discipline and corporate battles.
He knelt beside Clara, his large hands trembling slightly as he brushed wet strands of hair from her pale, shivering face.
“I’m here, Clara,” he whispered with profound tenderness, his voice shaking with protective brotherly love.
“Breathe, little sister, look at me, you’re safe now, I swear on my life nobody will ever hurt you again.”
Clara opened her tear-filled eyes, recognizing the brother who had always shielded her from the cruelties of the world.
“Lucas… you came back… they tried to kill me…” she sobbed, clutching his wet sleeve with all the strength left in her small hands.
Lucas gently placed his jacket around her shaking shoulders, shielding her from the cold breeze and the predatory stares of the crowd.
When he looked up, his warm expression instantly transformed into an aura of ice-cold, murderous rage.
He saw the red, swollen welt spreading across Clara’s left cheek where Victoria had struck her.
He saw the torn cardigan lying in the dirt, stepped on and ruined without a second thought.
And when he turned his gaze toward the terrace, he saw Victoria and Chloe still standing there with condescending smirks plastered across their faces.
Lucas slowly stood to his full height of six-foot-two, water streaming from his soaked black clothes onto the pristine stone.
Every muscle in his body was coiled like a steel spring ready to snap.
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The atmosphere in the garden plummeted to sub-zero temperatures as his dark eyes locked onto the two women who had dared to touch his blood.
The era of their unchallenged tyranny had officially come to an end.
