Chapter 22 - The Poisoned Bloodline
Lucas didn't waste time making move after move. Unlike Santiago, who tried to intimidate me with physical violence and arrogant shouting, Lucas was a master strategist.
The next evening, Alexander collapsed at an international diplomatic dinner.
I rushed to the hospital emergency wing, my heart racing, only to find my brother in a medically induced coma. The doctors were frantic, holding lab reports they couldn't explain.
"It’s a synthetic neurotoxin," the chief neurologist whispered to me, pulling me into a private corner. "It has no taste, no smell, and leaves the system within hours. It was slipped into his glass. If we don't find the antidote within seventy-two hours, his brain function will permanently fail."
My phone chimed in my pocket. A text message from an unregistered number: A life for a life, Clara. Return the Vance family assets, or your brother dies in three days.
May you like
Standing in the cold hospital hallway with tears burning my eyes, I realized Lucas’s game. He was isolating me. He took away my strongest ally, leaving me alone to manage a multi-trillion-dollar empire and protect my son while fighting a clock that was ticking down Alexander’s life.
I touched the glass of Alexander’s room, my grief hardening into cold diamond rage. "You picked the wrong sister, Lucas," I whispered.
