Chapter 19 - The Ultimate ChoiceThe air in the grand foyer was so thick with tension that a single spark could have ignited the entire room. Alistair stood frozen on the second-floor balcony, his pistol raised, but his finger locked tight on the trigger as he stared down at Lucas Kane holding a blade to Renley’s throat.
“Let her go, Lucas,” Alistair growled, his voice vibrating with suppressed murderous fury. “This is between you and me. The child has nothing to do with this.”
Kane chuckled, a dark, raspy sound that echoed off the high vaulted ceilings. “Ah, but she has everything to do with it, Alistair. She’s Walter’s legacy. She’s the spark that reignited your dead conscience. And to destroy you completely, I have to extinguish that spark first.”
Renley looked up at Alistair, tears shining in her eyes, but she shook her head fiercely. “Don't listen to him, Mr. Vance! Don't give him the ledger!”
“Shut up, kid!” one of the masked operatives barked, shoving her roughly forward.
Alistair’s eyes flashed with a lethal, blinding light. He lowered his gun—not in surrender, but with a calculated, terrifying precision.
“You want the master drive, Lucas?” Alistair called out, stepping slowly down the grand staircase, his boots clicking rhythmically against the marble steps. “You want the keys to the entire empire? Here they are.”
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Alistair reached into his breast pocket, pulled out the sleek metal flash drive, and held it up between his thumb and forefinger.
Kane’s eyes gleamed with greedy triumph. “Drop it on the floor, Alistair. And kick it toward me.”
