Chapter 4 - The Price of a Secret
I backed away,
tripping over the pile of trash,
my heels skidding on the slick floor.
"Stay away from me,"
I hissed,
clutching the baggie of real pills like it was a holy relic.
"Julian is paying you, isn't he?"
"To kill the man who pays your mortgage?"
Pierce smiled,
a thin,
clinical expression that lacked any soul.
"Julian is the future, Elena."
"Victor is a relic of a violent past that needs to be buried."
"The board wants a businessman, not a warlord."
"And Victor... well, Victor has become an obstacle to progress."
He stepped toward me,
the needle gleaming under the fluorescent lights of the mudroom.
"It will be quick,"
he promised.
"A sudden reaction."
"Grief over your employer's passing."
"No one will question it."
"Think of Emily,"
I screamed,
hoping the sound would carry through the thick walls.
"Think of what happens to a child without a mother!"
"I am thinking of her,"
Pierce said,
his voice dropping to a whisper.
"She's a bright girl."
"Too bright for her own good."
"She noticed the line, didn't she?"
"That makes her a liability too."
The mention of my daughter turned my fear into a white-hot flash of adrenaline.
I didn't think.
I didn't plan.
I grabbed a heavy glass vase from the side table,
the one filled with decorative stones,
and I swung it with every ounce of strength my working-class life had given me.
It shattered against the side of his head.
He didn't fall immediately.
He staggered,
the syringe dropping to the floor,
his eyes rolling back in his head.
I didn't wait to see if he was dead.
I grabbed the syringe,
the pills,
and the receipt,
and I bolted out the service door toward the sitting room.
I had to get to Victor.
I had to tell him that his doctor was a killer.
But as I burst into the room,
I saw Julian Vane standing over Victor.
Victor was slumped over the desk.
The pen was on the floor.
The papers were signed.
Julian looked up at me,
a triumphant glint in his eyes.
"You're late, Elena,"
he said,
folding the papers and tucking them into his breast pocket.
May you like
"The king is dead."
"Long live the king."
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