Chapter 28 - The Price of Arrogance
Sylvester didn't flinch. His gaze remained locked on Sterling’s face, cold and calculating.
"You think this gives you leverage, Sterling?" Sylvester said calmly, his hand unhooking his tactical belt and letting it drop to the floor with a heavy clatter. "You think killing an innocent child restores your father's legacy? It only confirms what the entire world already knows: you are a pathetic, bankrupt coward."
"Shut up!" Sterling roared, his hand shaking as the barrel pressed harder into Lucas's head. "Sign the papers! On the table below! Sign everything over, or I swear to God—"
"Mommy!" Lucas suddenly bit down viciously on the mercenary's fingers.
The mercenary cursed in shock, instinctively pulling his hand back. In that split fraction of a second, Lucas dropped his weight, throwing his small elbows into the man's groin just as Sylvester had taught him during their self-defense drills in the courtyard!
"Down, Lucas!" Sylvester roared.
Lucas dropped flat to the floor.
Before Sterling could adjust his aim, Sylvester moved with superhuman speed. A small, concealed backup ceramic blade flew from his sleeve, burying itself deep into the throat of the mercenary behind Lucas. The man choked on his own blood, tumbling backward over the banister.
Gunfire erupted.
Sterling panicked, pulling the trigger wildly, but Sylvester had already lunged, tackling me behind a massive marble pillar as bullets chipped away stone fragments, showering us in dust.
"Victoria! Kill the boy!" Sterling screamed from above.
Victoria shrieked, raising her revolver toward where Lucas was crawling beneath an overturned mahogany table.
A blinding surge of maternal fury erased every shred of hesitation from my mind. I didn't think; I moved. I stepped out from behind the pillar, raised the sidearm Sylvester had given me, aligned the sights directly with Victoria's chest, and pulled the trigger.
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The suppressed crack was sharp and definitive.
Victoria’s eyes widened in sheer disbelief. The champagne glass slipped from her fingers, shattering on the marble steps. She looked down at the crimson blooming across her satin dress, opened her mouth to speak, and collapsed backward, tumbling down the flight of stairs until she lay motionless at the bottom, her blank eyes staring up at the grand chandelier.
