My Parents Skipped the Funeral of My Husband and Two Children for My Sister’s Birthday, but Six Months Later, One Headline Made Them Panic When They Discovered What I Had Done. / Chapter 97 / 121

Chapter 97 - The Cipher in the Veins

I did not lower the weapon. "You had them killed. My children were four and six years old, Julian. Four and six."

Julian took a slow sip of his whiskey, his expression completely devoid of remorse, annoyance, or human emotion. "They were collateral liabilities, Claire. Your husband was digging into the offshore trusts Father set up to launder my seed capital. David was an honest man, which made him an exceptionally stupid one. He was preparing a brief for the federal regulatory council. Did you expect me to let my entire architecture burn because your husband suffered from an acute case of middle-class morality?"

"And Mom and Dad?" I demanded, my voice trembling with suppressed rage. "They spent eight years worshipping your memory. They bankrupted their own lives to pay your phantom debts."

"They were fools," Julian laughed, a dry, barking sound that was swallowed by the roar of the waves against the glass. "They were vain, small-minded creatures who cared only about the optics of an elite lineage. I gave them what they wanted—a tragic, heroic son who died in his prime, freeing them from the reality of their own mediocrity. Evelyn was even simpler to manipulate. A few million in designer accounts, an invitation to the right galas, and she danced on whatever string I pulled. She was so desperate to be the golden child that she gladly looked the other way when I asked her to organize that little party on the day of your family's funeral."

"She didn't know you were alive," I said.

"Of course she didn't," he sneered. "She thought she was taking orders from a sovereign consortium that would make her an international socialite. She was a clown wearing couture. But you... you surprised me, Claire. I expected you to swallow a bottle of sleeping pills in a cheap motel room after the crash. Instead, you built a counter-intelligence machine that systematically dismantled my front companies across Europe."

He set his glass down on the mahogany surface and tapped the silver cylinder. "You cost me four hundred million dollars in the Zurich liquidation alone. You broke the sovereign ledger. But I am a generous brother. The cylinder contains the synthetic enzyme that neutralizes the cipher in David's blood. It restores normal myelin synthesis within minutes."

"What's your price?" I asked, taking one measured step forward.

"The cryptographic keys to the Sovereign Vault," Julian replied, his eyes narrowing into cold slits. "You stole the master ledger in Geneva. You hold the digital identities and the bearer bonds of every elite player who financed my resurrection. Transfer the primary access partition to this console, Claire. Do it now, or watch your husband's heart stop on that monitor."

He nodded toward a wall screen displaying David's vital signs. The line was degenerating into a chaotic series of lethal fibrillations.

One hour and fourteen minutes remaining.