Chapter 35 - Blood of the Serpent
"Put the gun down, Victor," the woman said, rising slowly from the rocking chair. She was tall, statuesque, with silver streaks running through her raven-black hair, cut sharply at her jawline. Victoria Blackwood—the eldest sibling of the Blackwood dynasty, the sister who had supposedly vanished into an Eastern European convent fifteen years ago after their father was murdered.
"Where is my wife?" Victor growled, the Kimber staying firmly leveled between her eyes. "Where is Ethan?"
Victoria gave a low, musical laugh that held no humor, only the dry rattle of dead leaves. "Relax. Lily is downstairs in the sub-vault with your loyal housekeeper, clutching that little boy like a lioness. I haven't touched a hair on their heads. Yet."
"How did you get in here?"
"Did you really believe Alexander was the only one who kept the old architectural blue-prints?" Victoria stepped into the light of his weapon, entirely unbothered by the hollow-point round aimed at her skull. "Father built this estate with escape tunnels that bypass your modern digital toys. Alexander knew them. I knew them. You were always the favored son, Victor, the prince of the legitimate empire, so Father never showed you the dirt beneath the foundation."
"Alexander is dead," Victor said between clenched teeth.
"Is he?" Victoria smiled, tilting her head. "Then who paid thirty million dollars to dredge Serena Vance out of that river today? Who provided the military-grade jammers that blinded your perimeter? Do you really think Serena had the resources or the brains to execute an extraction like that on her own? She was a pretty pawn with a cruel streak. Nothing more."
"What do you want, Victoria?"
"Justice," she snapped, the mirth evaporating from her face, replaced by a venomous sneer. "You stole what belonged to the firstborn. You hunted Alexander down like a dog because he saw the world for what it was—a marketplace. You took his empire. You took his fortune. And worse... you took his son."
"Ethan is not Alexander's weapon!" Victor roared. "He is an innocent child! Elena died begging me to save him from you monsters!"
"Elena was weak!" Victoria hissed, taking a step forward, completely disregarding the barrel of the gun pressed against her sternum. "She was a commoner who didn't understand the bloodline she married into! Ethan carries the true Blackwood blood. The blood of the firstborn. Alexander wants his son back, Victor. And he will burn this entire country to ashes to take him."
"If Alexander is alive, let him come and face me himself," Victor said, his finger tightening on the trigger. "Instead of sending his rabid dogs and his withered sister to do his dirty work."
"Oh, he's coming," Victoria whispered, her smile widening into a terrifying rictus of malice. "He's already here. Who do you think orchestrated the crash at the gate, Victor? It wasn't an assault. It was a countdown."
Downstairs, a violent explosion rocked the foundations of the estate.
The shockwave blasted through the nursery floor, throwing Victor off balance. Plaster rained down from the ceiling as alarms throughout the mansion began to scream in deafening, high-pitched synchronization.
*WARNING: SECTOR 4 BREACH. SUB-LEVEL VAULT INTEGRITY COMPROMISED.*
Victor’s heart stopped.
The sub-level vault. Where Lily and Ethan were hiding.
Victoria moved with blinding speed, pulling a ceramic blade from her sleeve and slashing at Victor’s throat. Victor’s combat instincts took over; he ducked beneath the sweep, drove his elbow into her ribs with a sickening crack, and swept her legs out from under her. She crashed heavily onto the oak floor, the blade skittering away.
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Victor didn't wait to finish her. He turned and vaulted down the smoke-filled hallway, racing toward the sub-level stairs as the smell of burning sulfur and ozone filled the corridors.
"LILY!" he screamed into the choking darkness.
