Chapter 4 - THE ACCUSATION
“Put that down!” Chloe screamed, rushing forward to snatch the folder, but Ethan caught her wrist in a vice grip, shoving her back.
“You stole this from Dad’s office!” Ethan roared, his voice shaking the walls. “You knew about his will! You knew he cut you off because you sold out our family to a criminal!”
“He was an old fool!” Chloe shrieked, dropping all pretenses of innocence. Her eyes were wild, unhinged. “He was going to leave everything to you! You, the perfect son! What about me?! I owed people, Ethan! They were going to hurt me!”
“So you decided to destroy my life instead?!” Ethan yelled, stepping closer, his presence suffocating. “You tortured Diana! You put her in the hospital! Our baby is fighting for her life in an incubator right now because of you!”
Chloe let out a hysterical laugh. “Oh, please! Diana is a weak, spineless idiot! She knew her place! She’s nothing but a poor girl you pulled off the streets, and you treated her like royalty while I got nothing!”
SLAP!
The sharp sound echoed through the room. Chloe stumbled back, holding her stinging cheek, her eyes wide with shock. Ethan had never laid a finger on her in his entire life.
“Get out of my house,” Ethan said, his voice terrifyingly calm. “I’m calling the police. I’m reporting you for grand theft, extortion, and physical endangerment.”
Chloe’s expression shifted from shock to venomous rage. “You think you’ve won, Ethan? You think you can just kick me out and live happily ever after with your pathetic little family?”
She pulled out her phone and tapped the screen. “Victor! He knows. Do it now!”
Before Ethan could process what she was doing, a loud crash echoed from downstairs. The glass of the back patio door shattered into thousands of pieces.
Ethan shoved Chloe aside and rushed out into the hallway, peering over the balcony.
Three heavily built men in dark clothes stormed into the foyer. Leading them was Victor Sterling himself, holding a dark metallic object in his hand.
“Ethan Vance!” Victor called out, his voice smooth as silk yet deadly cold. “I hear you have something that belongs to me—or rather, something that’s worth enough to settle your little sister’s debts.”
Ethan retreated a step, reaching into his pocket for his phone, but Chloe stepped out behind him, holding a heavy marble vase.
Before Ethan could react, Chloe slammed the vase into the back of his head.
Darkness exploded behind Ethan’s eyes. He collapsed onto the hallway floor, his vision blurring as blood began to trickle down his neck.
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Through the ringing in his ears, he heard Chloe’s cold voice above him.
“Sorry, big brother. But it’s either your life or mine.”
