Chapter 13 - Blood and Betrayal— Drop the weapon, Carranza, a raspy, breathless voice commanded from the shadows.
The silhouette stepped forward into the dim amber glow of the fireplace embers. Elena gasped, her hand flying to her mouth.
It wasn't a hitman. It wasn't an assassin sent by Ambrose.
The man standing in the doorway was supposed to have been dead for five years. His skin was pale, his cheeks hollow, and a deep, jagged scar ran down the side of his neck—the very uncle Elena had mourned as a child.
— Uncle Julian? Elena breathed, her voice trembling as she stood up from the desk. — You… you’re alive?
Julian Vargas offered a bitter, broken smile, his eyes wild and desperate.
— I had to fake my own death, Elena, Julian rasped, keeping his pistol trained on Matthew. — If I didn't, Isabel would have put a bullet in my brain just like she did to your father. They took everything from me! The company, the estate, my entire life!
— And that gives you the right to help them cover it up? Matthew’s voice was like grinding steel, his own weapon locked dead on Julian’s chest. — You watched your own brother get murdered, and instead of stopping it, you took a cut of the stolen syndicate funds to run away to South America?
Julian’s face twisted in rage.
— You don't know what it’s like to be hunted by Ambrose! I was a coward, yes! But I came back tonight because I found out what Isabel tried to do to Elena. I came back to finish what your father started.
Before Matthew could react, Julian suddenly shifted his aim, not toward Matthew, but toward the dark hallway behind him.
Bang! Bang!
Two silenced shots echoed through the corridor. A heavy body hit the floor outside the library doors with a dull thud.
Julian staggered backward, dropping his weapon as a dark stain bloomed across his chest, blood soaking through his dark jacket. He collapsed against the bookshelf, gasping for air.
— Uncle Julian! Elena cried out, rushing past Matthew to kneel beside the dying man, pressing her hands against his wound. — Why? Why did you come back?
Julian reached out with trembling, bloodied fingers, pressing a small, encrypted microchip into her palm.
— The… the master key to Ambrose’s primary Swiss backup server… it’s on there, Julian whispered, his breath rattling in his throat. — Destroy them, Elena… avenge your father…
His hand went limp, his eyes glazing over as the last breath left his body. The second betrayal within the family was now sealed in blood.
Matthew stepped out into the hallway, kicking away the weapon of the assassin Julian had just shot—one of Ambrose’s hidden loyalists who had tracked Julian all the way from Geneva.
Matthew looked down at Elena, who knelt in the flickering firelight, clutching the microchip in her blood-stained hand.
— They won't stop coming until every loose end is tied, Matthew said gravely, reaching down to help her to her feet.
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Elena stood up, her eyes no longer showing fear, only an absolute, unbreakable resolve.
— Then we don't wait for them to find us anymore, Elena said, her voice dropping into a cold, terrifying calm. — We take the fight straight to Geneva.
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