Chapter 4 - The Midnight Siege
The darkness inside the mansion was heavy and suffocating. The only light came from the silver glow of the moon filtering through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows of the study.
Thump.
A heavy body fell against the front door downstairs.
Julian pulled a concealed 9mm handgun from his desk drawer, his heart hammering against his ribs. He was a corporate lawyer, an investigator—not a soldier. He had prepared for a legal war in the courtroom, not a military strike on his home.
"Julian..." Lily squeaked from under the oak desk, her small hand reaching out to grab the hem of his trousers.
"Stay quiet, sweetie," Julian whispered, crouching low beside her. "Don't make a sound."
He pulled out his phone to call his brother, Detective Marcus. No signal. A signal jammer was active within a five-hundred-yard radius. They were completely cut off.
The heavy glass doors leading to the balcony shattered inward with a violent crash. Three men dressed in tactical black gear, wearing night-vision goggles and holding suppressed submachine guns, stepped smoothly into the room.
"Find the drive," a deep, heavily accented voice ordered. "And eliminate the lawyer. The girl comes with us. The Client wants her alive."
Julian’s eyes narrowed in the dark. The Client. The man from the video.
Julian waited until the first mercenary stepped past the bookcase. With a sudden burst of adrenaline, Julian knocked heavy mahogany shelves over, sending hundreds of law books crashing down onto two of the attackers.
Pft-pft-pft!
Suppressed bullets chewed through the plaster walls above Julian’s head. He fired two shots blindly into the dark, striking one mercenary in the chest. The man went down with a heavy grunt.
"Run, Lily! To the safe room!" Julian yelled, grabbing the girl’s hand and sprinting out into the dark hallway.
They rushed down the corridor, bullets whistling past them, tearing through expensive paintings and shattering glass vases. Julian shoved Lily into the hidden panic room behind the wine cellar, slammed the heavy steel door, and typed in the emergency code.
"Julian! Come inside!" Lily cried out through the small reinforced glass window.
"I can't, Lily! The door only locks from the outside once activated!" Julian said, breathing heavily, blood trickling down his cheek from a glass shard scrape. "Listen to me! The code to open this door from the inside is your birthday. Do not open it for anyone except my brother Marcus! Do you understand me?"
Lily slammed her small hands against the glass, tears finally pouring down her face. "Don't leave me! Please!"
"I'm not leaving you," Julian smiled weakly, placing his palm against the glass opposite hers. "Your mother died to protect this truth. I won't let them take it from you."
Footsteps echoed down the cellar stairs.
Julian turned around, drawing his weapon, but a heavy tactical boot struck him hard in the chest. He crashed against the stone wall, dropping his gun.
A tall man in a tailored dark suit—the exact same man from Eleanor’s secret video—stepped down the stairs, flanked by two armed mercenaries. He looked down at Julian with cold, distant amusement.
"Julian Vance," the man said softly, stepping into the dim light. "You always were too nosey for your own good."
Julian coughed, looking up at the man’s face. His eyes widened in absolute shock.
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"You..." Julian gasped. "It was you all along?"
Standing before him was Chief Justice Richard Sterling—the most respected judge in the Supreme Court, and the father of Arthur Sterling.
