Chapter 16 - The Waiting Game
The next forty-eight hours were a grueling vigil. Julian and Clara refused to leave the medical wing. They sat in uncomfortable leather chairs outside the glass room, drinking terrible coffee and watching the monitors.
Inside, Lily woke up first. She was sore, but in good spirits. Clara brought her ice cream and read her stories through the glass intercom.
But the twins remained unconscious. The new bone marrow needed time to graft, to begin producing the healthy blood cells their little bodies desperately needed.
On the evening of the second day, Arthur Vance was brought before Julian in the basement interrogation room. Julian left Clara upstairs and descended into the dark.
Vance was tied to a steel chair, bruised and terrified.
“You wanted my throne,” Julian said coldly, standing in the shadows. “You thought my love for my children was a weakness you could exploit.”
“Julian, please,” Vance begged, thrashing against the ropes. “Romanov manipulated me! He forced my hand!”
“Romanov is dead,” Julian replied flatly. “And you are a traitor. In my world, treason is paid for in blood.”
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Julian didn't shout. He didn't torture the man. He simply raised his suppressed pistol and put a single bullet between Arthur Vance’s eyes. He turned on his heel and walked back upstairs, leaving the darkness of the underworld behind him in that basement forever.
He had a family to protect now.
