Chapter 5 - The Desperate Strike
With my uncle in federal custody and the family's assets frozen, the Vanguard empire was completely under my control. But a trapped animal is the most dangerous kind.
I had moved back into the estate, transforming the ground floor into a high-tech fortress. Thorne insisted on 24/7 armed guards, but I wanted to feel normal for just one night. I dismissed the interior guards to the perimeter and sat alone in the grand library, staring at the blazing fireplace, a glass of bourbon in my hand.
I didn't hear the glass shatter in the kitchen.
I only heard the soft, unmistakable click of a revolver's hammer pulling back.
I turned my wheelchair slowly. Julian stood in the doorway. He was drenched in rain, wearing dark clothes, his ankle monitor completely severed. He held a silver snub-nosed revolver, his hand shaking violently. He looked hollow, feral.
"You took everything," Julian hissed, stepping into the dim light of the library. "My inheritance. My father. My freedom. Chloe left me."
"You did this to yourself, Julian," I said, keeping my hands resting casually on the armrests of my chair. My heart hammered in my chest, but my face remained an impassive mask. "You pushed me."
"And I should have made sure you were dead!" he screamed, leveling the gun at my head. "If you die tonight, before the trial, before the trust is fully executed... the contingency still defaults to the surviving bloodline. To me."
He was delusional. He was running on pure panic and greed.
"Julian," I said softly, pressing a small, hidden button under the leather armrest of my wheelchair. "Do you remember what Thorne said on the night you pushed me? Grandma anticipated everything."
"Shut up!"
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"She knew you were violent. She knew you wouldn't stop." I leaned forward, staring down the barrel of his gun. "Did you really think the Judas Clause only froze your bank accounts?"
Julian blinked, confused. Before he could process my words, the heavy reinforced steel doors of the library slammed shut behind him, locking with a magnetic thud.
