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The silver picture frame shattered into a hundred jagged pieces across the hardwood floor, but no one in the room moved to pick up the glass. Little Sophie’s trembling body pressed so hard against Mark’s chest that he could feel the frantic, rabbit-fast thumping of her tiny heart through his suit jacket. Her small fingernails dug into his collar, white-knuckled, tears streaking through the light dust on her cheeks. / Chapter 19 / 20

Chapter 19 - BLOODLINES AND BLADES

The force of the impact shattered the ancient lantern room window. Shards of heavy glass exploded outward into the raging storm, seventy feet above the jagged rocks and crashing ocean below.

Sophie slipped from Sophia’s grasp, tumbling onto the safety of the interior iron floor. Vance sprinted forward, grabbing Sophie and pulling her out of the room toward the stairs.

Sophia, now desperate and feral, pulled a hidden ceramic blade from her sleeve and slashed violently at Mark’s face!

Mark dodged backward, the blade slicing through his jacket fabric. The hurricane winds roared through the broken window, blowing rain and salt spray wildly into the room.

"I spent four years wearing her face!" Sophia screamed, lunging with the blade again. "I earned your empire! It belongs to the Black Lily!"

Mark caught her wrist mid-air, squeezing with all his military-trained strength until the ceramic knife clattered onto the iron floor. Sophia kicked him hard in the chest, pushing him back against the broken window ledge.

"You took my wife," Mark growled, his eyes burning with intense, unstoppable rage as he grabbed her jacket lapels. "You poisoned my daughter! You destroyed my life!"

"And I’d do it again!" Sophia shrieked, striking him across the jaw with her brass knuckles.

Mark spat blood onto the floor, his grip tightening like vice grips around her forearms. With a final, explosive surge of power, Mark spun her around and shoved her away from the edge toward Detective Vance, who had just returned to the room with his service weapon drawn.

"DON'T MOVE!" Vance bellowed, aiming straight at her heart.

Sophia backed away, panting heavily, her foot catching on the slick, rain-soaked iron ledge of the shattered window frame. She lost her balance, her arms flailing wildly against the howling coastal wind.

"MARK!" she screamed, her eyes filling with sudden, genuine terror as her body tipped backward into the dark abyss.

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Mark lunged forward, reaching his hand out over the ledge—but his fingertips only grazed the wet fabric of her coat.

Sophia fell backward into the dark night, her long scream echoing over the roaring storm until she disappeared into the violent, jagged ocean waves below.

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