Chapter 14 - The Poisoned Heir
Declan didn't wait for midnight. He lunged out of the study, tackling Marcus against the hallway wall before the security chief could even react. The satellite phone shattered against the hardwood floor.
"How much did she pay you?!" Declan roared, his forearm pinned firmly against Marcus's throat. "I saved your life in Kabul! I gave you a home! And you sell my son to Eleanor?!"
Marcus struggled for breath, but to my absolute horror, he didn't look terrified. He looked desperate. "Declan... stop... listen to me!" Marcus gasped out. "I didn't... sell you out! I was... trying to save James!"
"Liar!" Declan pulled back his fist.
"Check the baby!" Marcus screamed with every ounce of oxygen left in his lungs. "Check James right now! She didn't want an extraction... she poisoned him!"
I shrieked, dropping to my knees beside James's bassinet. "James! Oh God, James!"
The baby was squirming unnaturally, his face flushed a deep, terrifying purple. Tiny blue spots were appearing across his neck and arms, and his breathing had turned into a frantic, raspy gasp.
"What did you do to my baby?!" I screamed, hysterical, pulling James against my chest as his tiny body went limp in my arms.
"It wasn't me!" Marcus choked out as Declan released him. "Eleanor’s agent spiked the estate's water filtration system three hours ago with a delayed neurotoxin! It's a synthetic compound developed in her private Swiss pharmaceutical labs! There is no hospital in North America that has the antidote!"
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Declan dropped beside us, grabbing James's small, ice-cold hand. "Marcus, where is the antidote?!"
"Eleanor has it on her private jet at Boeing Field," Marcus said, tears streaming down his battle-scarred face. "She gave me forty-five minutes to bring James to her. If she doesn't personally administer the serum within the hour... his organs will shut down."
