Chapter 8: The Cornered Wolf**
"You won't get away with it twice," Elena said steadily, stalling for time as she calculated the distance to the side exit. "The world isn't what it was seven years ago. You leave a digital trail everywhere you go."
"A trail that leads straight to an unfortunate warehouse fire caused by vagrants," Julian smiled coldly, nodding to the two armed heavies behind him. "Search the boy. Get the book."
As the two men stepped forward, Clara suddenly collapsed to one knee, coughing violently into her sleeve. Blood speckled the pristine white fabric of her suit.
"Mommy!" Leo cried out in terror.
"Clara!" Elena dropped down, supporting her sister’s trembling shoulders.
Julian paused, watching Clara’s agony with clinical detachment. "Look at you, Clara. You were dying anyway. That smoke inhalation from Blackwood destroyed your lungs. You should thank me for putting you out of your misery."
Clara lifted her head, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Despite the blood, despite the weakness racking her body, her eyes were burning with an intensity that made Julian instinctively take half a step back.
"I may be dying, Julian," Clara wheezed, a fierce, triumphant smile breaking across her scarred face. "But I didn't spend the last two years sitting in the dark waiting to die."
Julian frowned, a flicker of doubt crossing his face. "What are you talking about?"
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"Do you really think I brought my son here just to hand him over to you?" Clara whispered. "I brought him to Elena... because Elena is the only one who knows how to use our father's true vault."
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