Chapter 15 - The Judas Covenant
The rain began to fall in heavy, relentless sheets as Marcus slammed the trunk of our black SUV.
Maya was strapped into her car seat in the back, her pale skin glistening with an unnatural, toxic fever.
I sat beside her, constantly wiping her forehead with a damp cloth, whispering prayers into the storm.
"Keep her head elevated, Clara," Marcus said without looking back as he accelerated down the slick coastal highway.
The tires screeched violently against the wet asphalt, hugging the sharp curves of the towering cliffs overlooking Blackwood Bay.
"Arthur has been my family’s legal advisor for twenty-five years," Marcus muttered, his hands gripping the wheel until his knuckles bled.
"He wrote our trusts, handled the foreign acquisitions, even managed my trust fund when I turned eighteen."
"He manipulated both sides," I said, realizing the horrifying depth of the conspiracy. "He used our desire for justice to eliminate Eleanor."
"Exactly," Marcus said through clenched teeth. "Eleanor was too domineering; she controlled every penny with an iron fist."
"Arthur couldn't steal from the Vance empire while my mother was running it with a thousand private investigators."
"So he let us do his dirty work," I whispered, feeling sick to my stomach as Maya whimpered weakly.
Every piece of evidence Arthur had handed us—the mechanic's confession, the ledger location—had been carefully curated.
He had handed us the weapons to destroy his rivals, positioning himself to inherit the ashes alongside a resurrected Julian.
Ahead through the blinding rain, the silhouette of the abandoned lighthouse pierced the dark night sky like a jagged tooth.
A single beacon of light swept across the turbulent ocean below, throwing eerie shadows against the jagged coastline.
"There's the turnoff for the rental sedan," Marcus said, pointing toward a muddy service road branching off into the pine trees.
A lone silver sedan sat abandoned beneath the dripping branches, its hazard lights blinking rhythmically in the dark.
"Stay in the car with the doors locked," Marcus ordered, grabbing his sidearm and stepping into the torrential rain.
I watched through the rain-streaked window as Marcus approached the silver car, his gun drawn and leveled at the driver’s window.
He used his elbow to smash the rear passenger window, reaching inside to pop the trunk latch.
A moment later, Marcus emerged from the shadows carrying a small, thermal-insulated medical kit.
He ran back to our SUV, tearing open the door and tossing the kit onto the leather seat beside me.
Inside lay a pre-loaded auto-injector filled with a clear, golden liquid, labeled with Eleanor’s private laboratory insignia.
"Is this it?" I cried, my hands shaking so violently I could barely uncap the safety needle. "Marcus, what if it's poison?"
"It's the real thing," Marcus said, looking at the serial number printed on the glass ampoule. "Arthur wouldn't risk losing the drive before I meet Julian."
I didn't wait another second; I pressed the auto-injector firmly against Maya’s outer thigh until the mechanism clicked sharply.
Maya let out a loud, healthy wail of pain, the sharpest sound she had made in nearly an hour.
I buried my face in her damp hair, sobbing openly as her color began to return beneath the soft overhead dome light.
"She’s breathing easier," I choked out, looking up at Marcus with overwhelming gratitude and terror. "Marcus, she’s stabilizing."
Marcus leaned into the back seat, kissing Maya's tiny forehead, then pressing his lips firmly against mine.
"Take the SUV and drive straight toward the state police barracks in Augusta," Marcus said, stepping back into the rain.
"No!" I shouted, reaching out to grab his soaked jacket. "You can't go to that lighthouse alone, Marcus! They will kill you!"
"If I don't give Julian the drive, he will track you both to the ends of the earth," Marcus said with cold, absolute certainty.
"I ended Eleanor's reign. Tonight, I end my brother's."
May you like
Before I could stop him, Marcus slammed the SUV door, locked it remotely with his secondary fob, and vanished into the storm toward the lighthouse.
***
