Chapter 47 - Clash of the Bloodline
Arthur was fast, trained in the brutal close-quarters combat of private intelligence firms, but I was fueled by primal terror for my daughters.
He drove an elbow into my ribs, fracturing the bone with an audible crack that stole the air from my lungs. I roared through the agony, grabbing his collar and slamming his head back against the stone wall.
"You're a parasite, Arthur!" I shouted, striking his jaw with a brutal right cross. "You used Clara! You used our mother's name! You used my children!"
Arthur spit blood, his eyes wild with sudden ferocity. He drove a hidden combat knife from his boot sheath, slashing upward. The blade ripped across my forearm, hot fire blooming beneath my skin, but I caught his wrist with both hands before the steel could reach my throat.
We wrestled on the slick stones, muscle against muscle, the ancient bones of our ancestors watching from the shadows.
"You don't understand the world, Julian!" Arthur wheezed, his face inches from mine, the blade quivering between our chests. "The old order is burning! If our family doesn't claim absolute control over the European sovereign trusts, the Eastern cartels will slaughter us all! I am saving our name!"
"Our name is already dead!"
With a desperate surge of adrenaline, I kicked his knee inward. His joint buckled with a sharp snap, and Arthur let out a choked scream of agony. I twisted his knife hand until his fingers gave way, ripping the combat blade from his grip and throwing him into the shallow water.
I stood over him, chest heaving, the knife held low, pointed at his throat.
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Behind me, footsteps splashed rapidly through the water. Clara emerged from the conduit darkness, clutching a dropped tactical carbine from the fallen guard. She leveled the barrel at Arthur's mercenaries, who were hesitating at the corridor entrance, unsure whether to fire into the swirling scuffle.
"Stand down!" Clara shouted, her voice ringing with the lethal authority of an operative who had survived a dozen death warrants. "Drop the weapons or your employer dies right now!"
